/Designing for Lymphedema patients

Designing for Lymphedema patients

In the Design Thinking course, students from the MSPI-program and the Mechanical Engineering MSc program have explored issues relating to diagnosis and treatment of Lymphedema. Based on need analysis, ideation, and a prototyping approach, the students have developed concepts for how to address these issues, focusing on merging user desirability, with feasibility and viability from a business perspective.

The project has been initiated by and performed in collaboration with Blue Science Park and the SICAHTproject. Lymphedema disease provides one of the opportunities for innovation within the healthcare sector, which has been identified in an extensive mapping of needs that are yet to be fulfilled to a satisfactory level, given opportunities that comes with modern technologies and E-health.

Lymphedema is an illness that frequently affects people who has gone through cancer treatments. It is important to discover and begin effective treatment already in the early stages to manage the most severe effects of the illness. Current methods rely to a great extent on access to scarce resources within the healthcare system. Therefore, the students have investigated if there are opportunities to make identification and treatment more independent and effortless for users to manage on their own.

Several projects within “Lymphedema area” was explored, see all info below.