Revolutionizing Diabetic Foot Care with AR

Transforming Patient Outcomes in Diabetic Foot Care

In the UK, approximately 4.5 million people live with diabetes, and about 10% of them will develop Diabetic Foot Disease (DFD) at some point. DFD is a severe condition associated with high amputation rates and a five-year mortality rate worse than many common cancers. Despite various guidelines, managing this disease remains inconsistent and inefficient, costing the NHS over £1 billion annually.

Streamlining the Clinical Assessment Process

Smrtflo was developed to create a new pathway for early DFD detection using audio and imagery data to help clinicians diagnose the disease sooner. The Smrtflo team collaborated with product strategists, designers, and developers from Waracle to create an iOS app that records audio signals from commonly used ultrasound devices like the Doppler. Since these devices can capture background noises, custom algorithms filter out irrelevant sounds, presenting only the relevant vascular signals as spectral waveforms for rapid clinician review.

This data and images taken during inspection are stored in the cloud for medical experts to annotate and integrate into a custom data model. Once validated, this model could be implemented in the app to provide instant patient condition assessments. Smrtflo aims to enable clinicians to consistently collect and integrate comprehensive quantitative and qualitative data from external devices, producing a robust, easily accessible report with embedded clinical insights. At a time when foot ulcers and amputations cost the NHS around £1 in every £150 spent annually, Smrtflo is essential in improving patient outcomes while reducing care costs.

21% potential reduction in DFD amputations

10% potential reduction in cardiovascular deaths

10 weeks from concept to product