Abbott today announced that it has launched an upgraded version of its NeuroSphere myPath digital health app with enhanced functionality intended to help doctors more closely track their patients as they trial the company’s neurostimulation devices to address their chronic pain. The app, which can be used with both Apple and Android devices, provides a doctor, their staff and the patient with a shared view of patient-reported outcome measures through each stage of the treatment journey while trying a spinal cord stimulation (SCS) or dorsal root ganglion (DRG) therapy device.
SCS and DRG therapies can help address chronic pain by interrupting the pain signals travelling along the spinal cord or the dorsal root ganglia, a cluster of nerves along the spine, before they can reach the brain. Abbott’s NeuroSphere myPath digital health app is designed to allow a person to track and report their pain relief and general wellbeing. In turn, it helps doctors understand where patients are in the journey, and how patients are responding to therapy, to better inform their treatment plan—a major goal of the company’s connected care approach.
“With NeuroSphere myPath, I am able to connect with my patients virtually because I can hone in on the precise location where they are experiencing pain and understand whether they are receiving relief,” said Pankaj Mehta (Pain Specialists of America, Austin, USA). “Because the app is designed to provide a virtual environment in which I can connect with every patient and see where they are in the process, I can track how each person is doing, share critical data insights with my colleagues and help them take the next step in their pain-relief journey.”
The NeuroSphere myPath app allows people to closely track and document their pain through a series of surveys taken virtually at baseline and during the trial period through the app. People are asked questions to assess their pain intensity, about the relief and changes to physical function they experience, and their overall mood and wellbeing felt with and without the device throughout the treatment. At the end of the trial, doctors can receive a succinct yet comprehensive end-of-trial report.
According to a company press release, the NeuroSphere myPath app is part of a family of apps Abbott has created under the Neurosphere name, including Neurosphere virtual clinic—a first-of-its-kind technology in the USA giving patients the flexibility and comfort of receiving care anywhere (with a cellular or Wi-Fi connection and sufficiently charged patient controller) by connecting with their doctor via secure in-app video chat and an integrated remote programming feature. It enables clinicians to prescribe new treatment settings remotely to the patient’s neurostimulation device using the clinician programmer app, and a simple and secure remote care connection.
