A research project funded by the Taubman Institute has demonstrated that a simple, wearable temperature sensor was able to detect dangerous complications in hospitalized cancer patients hours earlier than routine monitoring.

The device, which takes readings every two minutes and wirelessly transmits them to the cloud, was able to quickly detect adverse events that affect body temperature, like infection and cytokine release syndrome, allowing for swifter interventions, according to findings published in Cancer Cell.

The project is being funded by a Taubman Institute Innovation Projects (TIIP) grant.  TIIP grants encourage research in the clinical setting.

“This lead time is clinically significant for patients with cancer, who are commonly immunocompromised and at risk for infection,” said study co-senior author Muneesh Tewari, Ph.D., a professor of internal medicine and of biomedical engineering at U-M. “How quickly doctors can administer antibiotics can play an important role in combatting potentially fatal infections and sepsis.”