Hydra, a Computer-Based Platform for Aiding Clinicians in Cardiovascular Analysis and Diagnosis
September 26th, 2018
This article presents a protocol based on Hydra — a web-based system for clinical decision support that integrates a full and detailed set of functionalities and services required by physicians for complete cardiovascular analysis, risk assessment, early diagnosis, treatment, and monitoring over time.
This method can help to answer key questions in the clinical decision making process for the prevention of cardiovascular disease and premature deaths. The method I want to choose for this platform is that it allows a reliable and objective analysis of the cardiovascular system, including risk assessment, early diagnosis, term and prescription, and monitoring over time. Giving it's user-friendly design and complete functionality based on the main international clinical guidelines the implications of this platform extent to our early diagnosis treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
To register a new patient open the hypertension webpage in any modern web browser and use an existing account associated with a doctor to login to the hydra web tool. Fill in the patient registration form including the patient code, date of birth, gender, and ethnicity and click include to enter the family background for premature cardiovascular diseases. Click next to introduce the first checkup and fill in the check-up date.
The block corresponding to patient habits, the block corresponding to precedents of cardiovascular illness, and the block corresponding to concomitant illnesses. When all of the patient information has been entered click next to move to the second checkup form relating to the physical examination and clinical analysis. Fill in the block corresponding to the physical examination and the block corresponding to the ambulatory blood pressure monitoring or ABPM recording.
Upload the ABPM file and complete the information related to the time during which the patient wore the monitor. Then, click end to record the checkup associated with the corresponding patient on the platform. To obtain an automatic computation of the cardiovascular risk factor for the patient, based upon various risk stratification tables recommended by the European Societies of Hypertension and Cardiology, click ESHESC to access the table page and check the highlighted cell to obtain the qualitative level of cardiovascular risk.
Check the recommendations and the possible anti-hypertensive treatment related to the resulting risk and click go back to access the general checkup report. Click MS to access the metabolic syndrome page and check the presence of metabolic syndrome based on the adult treatment panel three and the international diabetes from 2005 criteria. Then click go back to access the general checkup report and click score table to access the systematic coronary risk evaluation table page.
Check the highlighted cell to obtain the 10 year risk of fatal cardiovascular events and check the color of the highlighted cell in the legend to obtain the qualitative level related to the risk. Then click go back to access the general checkup report. Click Framingham table to access the Framingham table page and check the highlighted cell in the last table to obtain the 10 year risk of suffering a coronary event.
Then click go back to access the general checkup report. To perform ABPM analysis, click ABPM to access the ABPM information display and click 48 hours 24 hours one or 24 hours two, to change the visualization mode for the 48 hour ABPM files. Then click means to switch the visualization mode to an even representation of the measurements.
To access the clinical reports, click find patient and enter the patient code. Click revise checkup to access the full checkup report that contains all of the data recorded during the checkup registration process grouped into the various categories. Click ABPM to access the data extracted from the ABPM analysis and click on the specific link of each risk stratification table to review all of the information regarding the computation of the risk value.
The parameters that are outside of the normal level are displayed in red to facilitate their identification. Then click go back to return to the patient page and click smart report to access a brief overview of the checkup containing only the essential information. Check the summary of the risk stratification tables which contains the results extracted from each table and check the ABPM graph included in the final report then click go back to return to the patient page.
Click the ABPM reports to access an additional smart report focused on the ABPM information and results and check the information corresponding to the ABPM recording. Then click go back to return to the patient page and print the report for a presentation to the patient or another clinician if necessary. In addition to the centralized management of the patient data the platform also provides an automatic computation of the total cardiovascular risk factor based on different risk stratification tables recommended in the standard guidelines of the European Societies of Hypertension and Cardiology.
For example, this cardiovascular risk table was calculated based on an 85 year old patient's anti-hypertensive treatment decision table with recommended treatments related to this risk suggested. In this represented of metabolic syndrome table the risk that is obtained using two different criteria of reference and the factors involved in these computations is shown. Here, a systematic coronary risk evaluation table shows the ten year risk of suffering a coronary event and the list of relevant parameters.
Further, the Framingham table can used to calculate the risk of severe cardiovascular disease or a heart event and the contribution of each category to the final risk. In addition to the risk stratification, the ABPM also provides valuable information to support the clinical decision-making process. By maintaining the patient recordings over time the tool can provide an automatic risk computation as additional relevant parameters are added resulting in an improved quality of health care for the patient, while helping the physician perform a complete cardiovascular analysis.
While letting the design of procedures, it is important to remember that the integrated services and functionality of the platform work in design to support the clinical diagnosis and decision-making process according to international guidelines. Using this platform, it is also possible to generate high-quality printed versions of full and smart reports to insist in the revision of the reports and to allow sharing of the reports in clinical meetings for discussion with other specialists. After it's development this software idea, the specialist in early diagnosis and term of prescription of cardiovascular diseases into qualitative improvement in health care services, our reduction in the time manner for all daily clinical practice.
Giving the clinical validation of the platform it's uses to inform us in terms of facility of confidence for diagnostic treatment proposes, as well as, in considering in clinical studies of futures.
View the full transcript and gain access to thousands of scientific videos
Overview
This article presents a protocol for using Hydra, a web-based clinical decision support system designed for comprehensive cardiovascular analysis. The platform facilitates risk assessment, early diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing monitoring of cardiovascular health.
Key Study Components
Area of Science
- Cardiovascular health
- Clinical decision support
- Risk assessment
Background
- Hydra integrates functionalities required for cardiovascular analysis.
- The platform is user-friendly and adheres to international clinical guidelines.
- It aims to improve early diagnosis and treatment of cardiovascular diseases.
- It supports the prevention of cardiovascular disease and premature deaths.
Purpose of Study
- To provide a reliable analysis of the cardiovascular system.
- To enhance clinical decision-making processes.
- To facilitate patient registration and monitoring over time.
Methods Used
- Web-based patient registration through the Hydra platform.
- Input of patient data including demographics and family history.
- Conducting check-ups and monitoring cardiovascular health.
- Utilizing international clinical guidelines for assessment.
Main Results
- Hydra enables comprehensive cardiovascular risk assessment.
- Facilitates early diagnosis and treatment planning.
- Improves monitoring of patients over time.
- Supports clinical decision-making with objective data.
Conclusions
- Hydra is an effective tool for cardiovascular analysis.
- It enhances the ability to prevent cardiovascular diseases.
- The platform's design promotes ease of use for healthcare providers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Executive Industry Relevance
Cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of mortality globally, driving the need for integrated clinical decision support systems that enable early risk stratification and longitudinal monitoring. Platforms like Hydra support predictive confidence in therapeutic decision-making by consolidating guideline-based risk assessment tools and ambulatory blood pressure analysis into a unified workflow. This facilitates translational continuity from discovery biomarkers to clinical risk evaluation, reducing mechanistic ambiguity in cardiovascular target validation.
Strategic Applications in Biopharma R&D
Early Discovery & Target Validation
- Scientific Value: Enables interrogation of cardiovascular risk pathways through standardized risk stratification tables aligned with international clinical guidelines.
- Operational Value: Supports functional target validation by providing objective, reproducible cardiovascular risk metrics for hypothesis testing in preclinical models.
Screening & Assay Development
- Scientific Value: Facilitates preparation of validated biological systems for downstream workflows by extracting quantitative ambulatory blood pressure measurements over defined monitoring periods.
- Operational Value: Enhances assay standardization and reproducibility through automated computation of cardiovascular risk factors using reference tables from European Societies of Hypertension and Cardiology.
Translational & Preclinical Research
- Scientific Value: Supports disease-relevant system modeling by enabling longitudinal tracking of cardiovascular risk evolution across multiple checkups.
- Operational Value: Promotes translational continuity by integrating patient data management with risk stratification outputs that inform risk-adjusted advancement decisions.
Pipeline & Workflow Integration
Hydra positions itself within the discovery continuum by enabling hypothesis testing in cardiovascular biology, supporting assay readiness through standardized ABPM analysis, and generating quantitative risk scores that aid cross-functional comparison of conditions.
- Discovery Biology: Supports pathway clarification and biological de-risking by providing access to systematic coronary risk evaluation, Framingham, and metabolic syndrome tables for mechanistic insight.
- Screening: Delivers assay readiness through automated ABPM file processing and visualization modes that ensure consistent blood pressure measurement interpretation.
- Analytics: Offers quantitative dependent variable measurements including 10-year risk of fatal cardiovascular events and coronary events, enabling statistical comparison across patient cohorts.
- Translational Research: Connects discovery to preclinical continuity via longitudinal patient monitoring and risk stratification tracking over time.
- Enterprise Reuse: Functions as a reusable clinical decision support capability rather than a single-use technique, enabling standardization across sites and studies.
Operational & Enterprise Impact
- Scientific Value: Predictive confidence in cardiovascular risk assessment, reduction of mechanistic ambiguity in target validation, and support for biomarker-aligned risk modeling.
- Operational Value: Standardization of risk assessment protocols, reproducibility of ABPM analysis, and scalability across patient populations and clinical sites.
- Strategic Value: Improved go/no-go decisions in preclinical advancement, capital efficiency through early risk stratification, and reduced late-stage biological risk in cardiovascular programs.
- Portfolio Impact: Risk-adjusted prioritization of compounds based on integrated cardiovascular risk profiles and longitudinal monitoring data.
Implementation Considerations
- Requires clinical expertise in cardiovascular risk factor interpretation and familiarity with international guidelines such as those from European Societies of Hypertension and Cardiology.
- Dependent on web-based infrastructure and secure patient data management systems for longitudinal tracking.
- Necessitates cross-team standardization in data entry protocols, ABPM file handling, and risk table interpretation to ensure consistency.
- Involves adaptation considerations when applying the platform across diverse patient populations with varying comorbidities and ethnic backgrounds.
- Practical limitations include reliance on accurate patient-reported data and proper ABPM device usage for valid risk stratification outputs.
