Zacharie Biollo, 16, was born with a missing ventricle in her heart and had three life-saving surgeries when she was three years old. Growing up, his parents encouraged him to indulge in sports like soccer and karate, but he found he was out of breath faster than some other kids.
He then took part in a new program that helps young heart patients get fit and stay active. It was developed by the Pediatric Cardiology Group and a team of computer scientists at the University of Alberta.
The children exercise at home with a video game-based, high-intensity interval training program on a customized stationary bike called MedBIKE ™ while their vital signs are remotely monitored by a doctor.
Zacharie noticed an improvement after the eight week cycling program. “My legs got stronger and got more used to it,” he said. “My fitness level has improved quite a bit.
“I felt like I could do more and I had a little less doubt about myself,” said Biollo, who now does outdoor cycling, skateboarding and boxing.
The system was first tested on patients like Zacharie who had undergone corrective surgery known as the Fontan’s procedure. The team is now looking for patients between the ages of 10 and 18 who have other forms of congenital heart disease or who have had a heart transplant.
“These patients are expected to survive into adulthood, but they have less physical activity, which has been linked to poorer long-term outcomes such as mortality and hospitalizations,” said Michael Khoury, assistant professor of pediatrics in the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry directs that Program together with the computer science professor Pierre Boulanger at the Faculty of Natural Sciences.
“We know that improved exercise capacity can help prevent or reduce these problems,” said Khoury.
“They forget they have heart problems”
Until now, most training programs for congenital heart patients have been designed to be done in a hospital or designated facility where they can be medically monitored, Khoury said, but children’s activity tended to decline when they return home . It is estimated that approximately 30 Fontan surgeries are performed at Stollery Children’s Hospital in Edmonton from all of the Prairie Provinces each year.
The MedBIKE system is a stationary bike that is connected to a tablet and a video game via a television. Patients are trained as they progress through the game while doctors remotely track their vital signs and communicate with them via the video link. (Photo: Supplied)
“Part of the beauty of the MedBIKE system is that you can potentially have it shipped to your homes no matter where you are – Calgary, Winnipeg or Saskatoon – and we can still monitor your workouts from our location,” said Khoury.
The system is a stationary bike that is connected to a tablet and a video game via a television. As the patient progresses through different game levels on the screen, the supervising doctor remotely tracks blood pressure, oxygen levels and heart activity and communicates over the video link. The doctor remotely adjusts the resistance of the bicycle tire. Khoury noted that one of the child’s parents was always present.
Patients in the first MedBIKE pilot project had a participation rate of over 90 percent, a promising sign of their future fitness.
“It’s gamification that drives them to exercise because they enjoy the experience,” said Boulanger, who heads the Advanced Man-Machine Interfaces Laboratory and holds the Cisco Research Chair for Healthcare Solutions. “They forget they have heart problems and just have fun.”
“The future player will have a six-pack,” he joked. “Instead of serious games, they will do serious exercises.”
In his research, Boulanger is working to take telemedicine to the next level beyond video conferencing by using machine learning to remotely detect more heart problems such as irregular heartbeats.
Khoury is expanding the MedBIKE program to 12 weeks, hiring an exercise physiologist to conduct it, and taking a wider range of pediatric cardiac patients to health research institute thanks to funding from Canada’s Heart and Stroke Foundation and Stollery Children’s Hospital Foundation through Women and Children’s.
Zacharie encourages other pediatric heart patients to try the MedBIKE program. He is fortunate to come from a family in which the fitness of all three Biollo children is promoted.
“When he was born, we were told not to treat him differently from his siblings,” said his father Michael Biollo. “We took this statement very seriously.”
By the time Zacharie was invited to participate in the MedBIKE pilot, the family already knew how important physical activity would be to his longevity and health.
“We felt it was important that he participate – not just for his own physical well-being, but for everything he has received in relation to health care and treatment,” said Michael.
“It is important that parents of children with this type of illness realize that the only limits you have are those you impose on yourself,” said Zacharie’s mother, Anik Biollo. “You have to trust your child’s abilities and not be afraid.”
The Biollo family (from left): Alexi (fraternal twin brother), Michael (father), Genève (older sister), Anik (mother) and Zacharie (Photo: Delivered)
For Zacharie, he will literally keep rolling with the punches as he learns more about his current passion, boxing.
“You have to get used to being slapped in the face,” he said. “It’s always a really weird shock, it’s hard to believe when it happens, but you have to get past it to keep going.”
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