Smart Monitoring for Cancer Treatment: Feasibility Study of an IoT-Based Assessment System
Non-invasive monitoring technologies are increasingly being explored to support cancer care, yet most existing approaches focus on isolated parameters and fail to provide a comprehensive view of patients' health. This study presents a feasibility evaluation of an IoT-based system designed to detect treatment-related problems in oncology patients through the integration of wearable sensors, physiological measurements, and patient-reported outcomes. A monitoring kit, including a smartwatch, tensiometer, weighing scale, and mobile device, was deployed in a cohort of 26 patients undergoing oncological treatment. Data acquisition followed a structured schedule: continuous physiological recording via the smartwatch, daily blood pressure measurements, weekly weight monitoring, and structured surveys capturing treatment-related side effects. These heterogeneous data were transformed into binary clinical metrics using rule-based feature extraction algorithms, covering conditions such as insomnia, nausea, diarrhea, abdominal pain, headache, weight loss, hypertension, and fever. Clinical specialists labeled the dataset to ensure medical validity. Machine Learning models were then trained to analyze the features and generate alerts for potential treatment complications. The results demonstrate the feasibility of integrating IoT and Artificial Intelligence techniques for continuous, patient-centered monitoring in oncology, paving the way for intelligent decision-support systems that enhance early detection and clinical management.
Authors
- José Catalán (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3608-1039)
- Andrea Blanco (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4482-7635)
- Juan A. Barios (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0822-854X)
- Nicolás García-Aracil (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2510-3829)
- David Martínez-Pascual
- Pablo Rubira-Úbeda
- Gabrielle Derrico
- Beatriz Franqueza
Institutions
- Universitat de Miguel Hernández d'Elx (ES)
- Hospital Universitari Sant Joan D'Alacant (ES)
- Hospital General Universitario de Elche (ES)
- University of Almería (ES)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Sensors
- Published
- 2026-03-03
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/s26051579
- Primary Topic
- Cancer survivorship and care
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Centro para el Desarrollo Tecnológico Industrial