VitalWear
VitalWear embeds optical fiber sensing technology into sensor sheets for the early detection of pressure ulcers via the continuous and autonomous monitoring of pressure and temperature.
VitalWear's non-invasive monitoring solution informs the nurses when a patient needs attention and when no intervention is necessary due to a low risk level.
Funding:
VitalWear is looking for contributions between EUR 20k and EUR 500k via Convertible Loan Agreements for technology development and clinical experimentation.
Clinical:
VitalWear is always interested in discussions with experts in pressure ulcer care and prevention as well as with potential users of the VitalWear technology in hospitals and nursing homes.
Technology:
VitalWear would like to discuss with technology partners with experience in the commercialization of solutions based on optical fiber sensing and in the textile integration of optical fibers.
Pressure ulcers represent a significant, world-wide healthcare challenge, which in the United States every year leads to the death of 60,000 of the 2.5 million affected patients and to additional healthcare costs of more than $ 26b, as well as to 17,000 legal cases against healthcare institutions, which are settled for an average of more than $ 200k. By detecting pressure ulcers at an early stage, so that their full formation can still be prevented, and by indicating which patients currently do not need attention, VitalWear helps to reduce the number of pressure ulcer cases while also lowering the amount of time that the nurses need to spend on pressure ulcer prevention.
VitalWear’s unique monitoring and decision support solution monitors pressure and temperature distributions on the patient's skin, continuously and autonomously. The solution informs nurses about which patients need immediate attention to prevent a developing pressure ulcer from fully forming and about which patients currently do not need to be disturbed (repositioned). Via timely interventions, pressure ulcer incidences are lowered. By enabling the move from time-based care intervals to data-driven care, the VitalWear solution helps the nurses to reduce, without higher risks for their patients, the amount of time that they need to allocate to pressure ulcer care.
The VitalWear solution consists of sensor sheets that are installed in hospital or nursing home beds, a readout device, data processing and interpretation algorithms, and a user interface for the nurses. The monitoring focuses on the body areas where pressure ulcers typically occur, such as the sacrum and the heels.
Central Mission:
People live longer, and, unfortunately, age is a risk factor for developing pressure ulcers. Older people are at risk for developing conditions that require hospital treatment or admission into a nursing home – and that may force them to lie in bed for extended periods, where they are at risk for developing decubitus.
While the VitalWear bed surface monitoring solution cannot prevent these situations, it contributes to the quality of care by preventing that on top of their primary condition, another one, an open wound as a result of a pressure ulcer, which may influence the quality of life of the elderly person for a very long time, will develop.
In this way, the VitalWear solution contributes to ensuring that these extra years are not hindered by open wounds.
In addition, VitalWear indirectly supports healthy ageing by increasing the efficiency of nurses and addressing the nursing shortage.
Decreasing health disparities is partly related to providing equal access to healthcare. Socio-economic disparities are often related to limited resources, which become expensive based on their limited availability. We know that access to skilled healthcare personnel is a resource that is already limited and that will become even more limited in the future.
By assisting nurses with a non-invasive, non-obtrusive, continuous and autonomous monitoring solution and by increasing their efficiency, VitalWear can help to ensure that access to skilled healthcare personnel continues to be available for anybody, who is in need, instead of only being available for those, who can afford it.
In addition, lower income and lower educational status are significantly associated with increased odds of pressure ulcer occurrence and worse outcomes. Therefore, successful pressure ulcer prevention benefits people on lower socio-economic levels most.
Mission II:
The VitalWear solution will in the first years of market introduction be marketed to hospitals and nursing homes.
However, VitalWear already works together with a business that provides support and materials for home care staff. Through this business, the VitalWear solution could also be provided for home care – ensuring that patients and their care providers are supported with the timely detection of a beginning pressure ulcer, and providing guidance on addressing this in the best possible way through an interface for care providers and/or family members of patients.
One possible future scenario, which may be realized by 2030, is the coupling of VitalWear’s bed surface monitoring solution with alternating pressure mattresses in a closed loop system, where the measurements from the VitalWear solution are translated into specific adjustments of the alternating pressure mattress. Such a closed loop approach removes the need for any intervention by a private caregiver.
VitalWear's target audience are hospitals and nursing homes with a desire to optimize their pressure ulcer prevention.
VitalWear targets to equip a percentage of all hospital and nursing home beds with its bed surface monitoring and pressure ulcer detection solution.
The number of hospitals, hospital beds, nursing homes and nursing home beds for VitalWear's first target markets are as follows:
The Netherlands: ~140 general hospitals, ~48,000 hospital beds, ~600 nursing homes, ~116,000 nursing home beds
Germany: ~1,800 hospitals, ~477,000 hospital beds, ~15,000 nursing homes, ~950,000 nursing home beds
United States: ~6,000 hospitals, ~900,000 hospital beds, ~15,000 nursing homes, ~1,700,000 nursing home beds
The total number of beds in hospitals and nursing homes in these three markets alone is roughly 4 million.
If ultimately only 2% of those beds are used for patients that are at risk for pressure ulcers and are equipped with the VitalWear solution, VitalWear has a serviceable market of 80,000 beds, which translates into EUR 80 million of revenue for every EUR 1,000 of per bed product and service sales - only in the Netherlands, Germany and the United States.
VitalWear has two main value propositions, which both help to reduce healthcare costs: VitalWear helps to reduce the number of pressure ulcer cases and to lower the amount of time that the nurses need to spend on pressure ulcer prevention.
By monitoring temperature in addition to pressure, around the clock and autonomously, VitalWear detects pressure ulcers at an early stage, so that their full formation can still be prevented via timely interventions. This reduces the number of pressure ulcer cases and therefore the need for cost-intensive wound care. VitalWear's goal is to reduce the number of pressure ulcer cases, for the beds in which the VitalWear solution is installed, by 50%.
VitalWear also indicates which patients currently do not need to be repositioned, enabling nurses to save precious time. VitalWear expects that up to 50% of repositioning actions are not needed and can be skipped when the VitalWear solution indicates that the current position of the patient is stable and that no unusual developments are observed.
The VitalWear solution will, at least initially, be sold per bed. For each bed in which the VitalWear solution is installed, a one-time purchase price and an ongoing service fee will be charged. The market introduction pricing has not been set yet. Current expectations can be shared on request via info@vitalwear.nl. Prices are expected to slightly come down over time, as volumes are increasing and as the purchasing prices for VitalWear on the supply chain side also decrease.
The current clinical practice guidelines for pressure ulcer prevention prescribe a regular repositioning of the patient (every 2-3 hours) as well as regular visual inspections of the patient's skin. While being an effective even though also rather time consuming mechanisms for the reduction of pressure ulcer incidences, the number of residual pressure ulcer cases is still far too high, partly because the repositioning frequency still does not guarantee that all instances of a developing pressure ulcer are caught sufficiently early and partly due to non-compliance with this aspect of the guidelines.
To be successfully adopted into clinical practice, a pressure ulcer monitoring solution needs to be reliable (nurses must trust the monitoring results), effective (utilization of the monitoring results must lead to a reduction in pressure ulcer cases), efficient (effort for the nurses compared to standard practice must be less and not more) and comfortable (an additional risk or burden for the patient is not acceptable). VitalWear scores high in these categories, while competitive solutions have one or more substantial weaknesses.
While competitors are generally also able to provide reliable measurements, some of these measurements (e.g. the motion monitoring by Smith+Nephew's LEAF system) are only indirectly correlated with developing pressure ulcers and therefore less effective towards the reduction of pressure ulcer incidences. Solutions that require active interventions by the nurses (e.g. the SEM Scanner by Bruin Biometrics) are less efficient compared to alternatives that monitor autonomously. Options for which a device is used to actively carry out measurements on a patient are less comfortable compared to alternatives that collect data without the patient noticing this at all.
VitalWear improves upon its competitors...
- ... as its combination of the reliable monitoring of pressure and temperature changes across a skin surface area is directly translated into acute risk for pressure ulcer development,
- ... as its continuous and autonomous monitoring method does not require active support by the nurses and
- ... as its textile measurement surface is fully comfortable for the patients.
Compared to the status quo of frequently repositioning patients, as represented by the current clinical practice guidelines, VitalWear provides increased effectiveness and efficiency, without requiring compromises on patient comfort.
VitalWear has filed European Patent Application EP25386014.2 (Optical Fiber Sensing System) on February 26, 2025. The patent application covers some of the sensor concepts on which the VitalWear solution is based.
VitalWear is an early-stage pre-seed startup company based in Eindhoven. The company has been born out of the HighTechXL startup building program and has been incorporated in February 2024. VitalWear currently has 7 team members, who are mostly working on R&D (technology and prototype development).
Profile of founders:
- Eric Thelen, CEO, https://www.linkedin.com/in/ethelen/ - Previously: CTO Philips Home Monitoring, Sector Head and Vice President Philips Research, Director EIT Digital Silicon Valley Hub
- Kostas Voutyras, CTO, https://www.linkedin.com/in/konstantinosvoutyras/ - Previously: ASML (Metrology Design Engineer) and Smart Photonics (Test and Measurement Engineer)
In in-house proof-of-concept experiments, VitalWear has demonstrated the capability of its prototype solution to accurately monitor temperature changes on human skin.
Additional in-house experiments with healthy volunteers are currently being prepared.
First experiments with at-risk patients in hospital and nursing home environments are being set up for the first half of 2026.
An outcome-oriented clinical study is planned for 2027.
VitalWear collaborates with Q Care for the introduction of its technology into nursing homes.
Hospital experiments are currently being prepared in collaboration with UMC Utrecht.
Information about VitalWear's proof-of-concept experiment is available on the VitalWear website: https://vitalwear.nl/proof-of-concept/
2025: Prototype development; in-house experiments with healthy volunteers
2026: Experiments in hospitals and nursing homes; data analysis and algorithm design; design of Minimum Viable Product
2027: Minimum Viable Product development; outcome-oriented clinical study; regulatory approvals
2028: Market introductions: NL, Germany
2029: Market introduction: US
Market roll-out plans and associated financial projections can be shared on request via info@vitalwear.nl.
n.a.
- Additional sensing capabilities (e.g. humidity sensing)
- Measurement of additional parameters, events
- Additional product versions for additional application scenarios
VitalWear will ultimately be a global company.
Pressure ulcer prevention is a global challenge.
Healthcare systems globally experience a labor shortage that demands increased efficiency facilitated by technological innovation.
VitalWear has an international team with international experience, including in the US, various European Countries, China and India.