The organ donation process faces significant chal-lenges, including lack of transparency, potential for tampering, and inefficient matching systems. This paper proposes SecureOrganChain, a blockchain-based framework that inte-grates Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) smart contracts and Electronic Health Records (EHR) to address these issues. The framework establishes an immutable, decentralized platform for organ donation, ensuring transparency and tamper-resistance. Smart contracts govern the donation and allocation processes, guaranteeing fair and equitable transplant matching based on predetermined rules. By leveraging EHR data, the framework enhances accessibility, security, and efficiency in organ donation. SecureOrganChain fosters trust among stakeholders, including hospitals, transplant centers, donors, and recipients, by ensuring the integrity of organ donation records and fairness in allocation. This innovative approach represents a significant advancement in organ donation systems, promising a more transparent, secure, and equitable approach to life-saving transplants.
Roger Lacson, Yufei Yu, Tsung-Ting Kuo, Lucila Ohno‐Machado
OBJECTIVE: Blockchain has emerged as a potential data-sharing structure in healthcare because of its decentralization, immutability, and traceability. However, its use in the biomedical domain is yet to be investigated comprehensively, especially from the aspects of implementation and evaluation, by existing blockchain literature reviews. To address this, our review assesses blockchain applications implemented in practice and evaluated with quantitative metrics. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This systematic review adapts the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework to review biomedical blockchain papers published by August 2023 from 3 databases. Blockchain application, implementation, and evaluation metrics were collected and summarized. RESULTS: Following screening, 11 articles were included in this review. Articles spanned a range of biomedical applications including COVID-19 medical data sharing, decentralized internet of things (IoT) data storage, clinical trial management, biomedical certificate storage, electronic health record (EHR) data sharing, and distributed predictive model generation. Only one article demonstrated blockchain deployment at a medical facility. DISCUSSION: Ethereum was the most common blockchain platform. All but one implementation was developed with private network permissions. Also, 8 articles contained storage speed metrics and 6 contained query speed metrics. However, inconsistencies in presented metrics and the small number of articles included limit technological comparisons with each other. CONCLUSION: While blockchain demonstrates feasibility for adoption in healthcare, it is not as popular as currently existing technologies for biomedical data management. Addressing implementation and evaluation factors will better showcase blockchain's practical benefits, enabling blockchain to have a significant impact on the health sector.
As blockchain becomes more widely used, a growing number of application fields are becoming interested in blockchain to benefit from its decentralised nature, invariability, security, transparency, quick transaction capabilities, and cost-effectiveness. Blockchain has a wide range of applications and uses in healthcare. Distributed ledger technology facilitates the secure transfer of patient medical records, manages the medicine supply chain, and creates an efficient, transparent, safe, and effective way of communicating data across global healthcare. The organ transplantation process (OTP) is one of the healthcare areas that benefit from the use of such technology to make its process more secure and transparent. In this article, we put forward a systematic literature review analysis on the application of blockchain to the OTP. Additionally, we address and highlight the barriers and challenges that arise while using blockchain technology for the OTP. We also offer some suggestions for future developments that would enhance blockchain’s implementation in the OTP domain.
<title>Abstract</title> Currently organ donation and transplantation management systems are designed using either centralized architecture or decentralized architecture. The centralized architectures lack transparency for the stakeholders thereby causing unethical allocation of organs and unauthorized alterations to organ waiting lists. Additionally, centralized models are susceptible to data vulnerability through third-party interference, ultimately eroding trust in the system. On the other hand, the existing blockchain-based decentralized models suffer from high Ether consumption during deployment. Furthermore, both models fail to provide stakeholders with access to vital information regarding the condition of organs during their transportation from the donor to the recipient. This includes factors like temperature, humidity level, and light exposure inside the organ container, and orientation and vibration of the container. This absence of supervision increases the risk of contamination of organs during transit, highlighting a crucial gap in safe organ transportation. The paper presents a decentralized application powered by blockchain and Internet of Things technologies for managing stakeholder registration, efficient patient-donor matching, organ retrieval, transportation, and transplantation. The proposed application ensures complete data security, process transparency, and a trustful environment for stakeholders. Furthermore, the application ensures safe organ transportation and a reduction in the risk of organ contamination. A comparative analysis with existing blockchain-based organ management applications has been presented. Notable improvements in Ether consumption with a deployment cost of approximately 0.00582850 Ether, reduced gas utilization of 446104.333 units, process transparency, organ monitoring, and the assurance of safe transportation within the proposed application have been observed.
The complexity of organ donation and transplantation in today's healthcare systems need specialized methods at several stages, including registration, donor-recipient matching, organ retrieval, delivery, and transplantation. In order to ensure justice, efficiency, patient happiness, and confidence, a comprehensive solution is required to address the legal, clinical, ethical, and technical difficulties. This paper proposes to use a private Ethereum blockchain to create a decentralized, secure, traceable, auditable, private, and trustworthy system. By creating smart contracts and putting six algorithms into practice, we offer comprehensive insights into validation and testing. We demonstrate the efficacy of our suggested approach using a comparative analysis with current solutions andprivacy, security, and confidentiality studies. Adopting a private Ethereum blockchain- based solution also has benefits over conventional centralized systems. Decentralization lowers the possibility of bias or manipulation by ensuring that no one party controls the entire process. Furthermore, the immutability and transparency that come with blockchain technology improve confidence between all parties involved, including regulators, donors, beneficiaries, and medical experts. KEYWORDS: Blockchain, Organ Donation, Organ Transplantation, Decentralization, Smart Contracts, Ethereum, Traceability, Data Privacy And Security.
H T Manohara, C.N. Nagabushan, Ananad J Nagri, Rakshith. K. R
Modern organ donation and transplantation systems have special requirements and challenges in relation to regis-tration, donor-recipient pairing, organ removal, organ delivery, and transplantation. It also present technological, ethical, legal, and clinical constraints. Therefore, to provide a just and effective procedure that improves patient experience and trust, an final result of organ-transplantation & donation system is needed. Numerous Ethereum blockchain-based private solutions are available to facilitate organ donation and transplantation administration; nevertheless, their scalability, accuracy, and authenticity are limited, despite their substantial flexibility. The suggested web platform for managing organ donations, powered by Python, is intended to provide an easy-to-use and safe interface that will expedite and simplify the organ donation procedure. The platform prioritizes user verification and offers unique features for donors, recipients, and administrators. Users can create accounts and manage comprehensive profiles that include personal data, medical histories, and donation preferences. To maximize the likelihood of successful organ transplants, a sophisticated matching system that uses algorithms to match possible donors with recipients based on compatibility parameters including organ type, location, and urgency is essential to its operation. In order to demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed organ donation model, the python driven-model performance parameter are overlaid on the Blockchain-driven performance parameter. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed model offers better Scalability, Accuracy, Authentication with significant Flexibility. Further, the proposed python-Driven model achieves approximately 8% and 10% improvements in Accuracy and Scalability respectively against the existing model.
Leela Sri SaiGanesh Patchipulusu, R. Jeberson Retna Raj, Pavan Parjapnoar
Organ donation and transplant is paramount important in healthcare services organizations. The donor and receiver details must be secured and their privacy has to be preserved. Current systems are centralized and lack of trust and managing such information. Therefore, the need of the hour is to evolve an innovative solution to enhance the transparency and trust in the organ donation process. With the support of blockchain technology, the details of donor and recipient details can be stored in a distributed ledger so that the privacy and trustworthiness of the users is maintained. This paper presents a novel approach utilizing blockchain technology to address the challenges in organ donation and distribution. This work leverages the immutability and decentralization features of blockchain, this solution aims to improve the reliability of organ allocation, by ensuring transparency and maintaining trust among stakeholders. The proposed system utilizes a blockchain network to securely store and manage organ-related data, including donor information, recipient profiles, and medical records are updated in the ledger and is validated by all the stakeholders includes hospitals, organ procurement organizations, and patients. This transparency eliminates the possibilities of fraud or manipulation, ultimately fostering trust within the system. Furthermore, the blockchain-based platform incorporates smart contracts to automate and streamline various aspects of the organ donation process. The system is implemented and tested with the simulation environment and the test results are very promising. The system provides a reliable, efficient, and accountable platform for organ allocation, ultimately saving more lives.
The act of organ transplantation is a crucial and life-saving medical procedure, yet it is often faced with obstacles like a limited supply of organs, ineffective management practices, and a lack of openness in the distribution of organs. To tackle these challenges head-on, we put forth an innovative solution: a blockchain-based system for managing organ donation and transplantation. By harnessing the unique features of blockchain, such as decentralisation, immutability, and transparency, our system offers a secure and transparent environment for all participants in the organ donation and transplantation journey. Our system utilises advanced smart contracts and distributed ledger technology to ensure seamless traceability of organ transactions. This not only streamlines the process of matching donors with recipients but also increases transparency and integrity within the organ allocation process. In this paper, we delve into the intricacies of our proposed system, including its architecture, components, and functionalities. We also explore the potential impact of our system on improving efficiency, fairness, and trust in organ donation and transplantation management. These findings demonstrate the immense potential of blockchain technology in transforming the organ transplantation ecosystem, ultimately paving the way for a more equitable and efficient allocation of life-saving organs.
Blockchain has been recognized as a secure technology with which unique and tamper-proof certificates can be issued. Today the secure and immutable storage of vital records, such as birth certificates, is of paramount importance. Traditional systems for recording and managing such documents are complex, tedious, and inaccessible for many. At present, issuing a certificate involves three stakeholders; Parents, Hospitals, and Registrars. The Parents must visit the Registrar and report the birth after which the Registrar verifies the birth, which is a time-intensive process for the Registrar. To address these challenges, we present a web application that leverages blockchain technology to record and manage birth certificates. By utilizing a decentralized and distributed ledger, our application improves accessibility, transparency, and increased security. This paper outlines the design, implementation, and evaluation of our birth certificate recording system, highlighting its benefits for hospitals, registrars, and individuals. Furthermore, limitations and the future work of this technology are discussed.
How to safely and anonymously interact with fog nodes’ charging stations is a big deal for hybrid electric vehicles in fog-based vehicular networks. Although there exist key exchange protocols, which tried to cover this critical concern, most of them are certificate-based. In addition, they do not support key revocation option or cannot totally resist advanced cyber attacks such as key compromise impersonation attack. As a result, this paper, by means of Blockchain, proposes a highly-secure self-certified key exchange protocol with an exceptional level of privacy. By the proper employment of distributed ledger, the suggested protocol can also support the authentication token revocation and immutability. Formal security and performance analyses as well as comparison with top scholarly articles demonstrate the distinct security features and applicability of the proposed protocol.
Last decade has witnessed revolutionary changes in the field of Information Technology & Health Care. The digitization of healthcare data has enabled the effective storage, retrieval and sharing of medical information of the patients. It simplifies the tedious paper work involved in traditional data storage approaches providing cost effective and better health assistance. Given the sensitivity of medical information, it must be handled with the utmost care while maintaining confidentiality and privacy. Organ donation and transplant process is the most complicated area of health sector. There are several factors like scarcity of organs, lack of awareness among public, complexities involved in organ removal and implantation processes and black marketing that makes it challenging. To enable more transplants before patients on the organ waiting list pass away, an upsurge in the number of donors, handled by a more secure and accountable platform, is required. Blockchain with its distributed ledger technology offers a wider canvas for organ matching, breaking the regional barriers, with international waiting list databases. The security and immutability features of blockchain can ensure the privacy of the patients and reduces black market organ donations. This paper reviews the role that can be played by blockchain in improvising the existing organ transplantation procedure. Different systems implemented using blockchain technology are analyzed, highlighting their unique features.
Vedant Jayesh Momaya, B. M. Zeeshan Hameed, Kinju Adhikari, Mayukh Das · 9 authors
Amidst a critical shortage in organ donations, with over 120,000 individuals on the waiting list compared to a mere 8,000 annual donors, blockchain technology emerges as a beacon of innovation for the organ donation ecosystem. Originally the bedrock of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, blockchain has since traversed beyond the financial sector, exhibiting potential for securing medical records, authenticating pharmaceuticals, and mitigating fraudulent practices within healthcare. It presents a decentralized ledger that not only ensures data integrity and immutability but also fosters transparent and efficient donor-recipient matching through smart contracts. Despite the promising applications, the adoption of blockchain in healthcare confronts challenges including interoperability, data security, and regulatory hurdles. The present article encapsulates the transformative impact of blockchain, particularly within organ transplantation, and underscores the necessity for further research to surmount the barriers to its implementation. As blockchain technology continues to evolve, its capacity to reconcile the demand-supply disparity in organ donations is anticipated to save numerous lives, revolutionizing the healthcare landscape.
Protecting the integrity and security of the donor’s data has become very challenging due to the rise of digital technology. The present study has explored implementing blockchain for decentralized, tamper-proof donor matching systems that guarantee data authenticity. By considering the distributed ledger of blockchain technology, the authenticity of the data can be ensured. This approach can also help mitigate the issue of fraud and data manipulation. In the present study, multiple challenges are associated with the security of the donor’s data, and it has also demonstrated how blockchain could be utilized to mitigate the challenges. It has also been illustrated that the technology could be used to promote transparency, immutability and data control mechanisms could be enhanced. The solution emphasized in the present study focuses on the security of data, privacy as well as operational efficacy in the overall process of donor matching.
Jorge Peña Queralta, Farhad Keramat, Salma Salimi, Lei Fu · 6 authors
Abstract Purpose of Review: Distributed ledger technologies (DLTs), particularly blockchain, are paving the way to securing and managing distributed and large-scale systems of autonomous agents. We look into how these technologies are moving out of the lab and into the real world within the robotics field. Recent Findings: Despite the scalability and real-world applicability concerns, new solutions have emerged that show resilience to intermittent connectivity, as well as scalable solutions for managed or permissioned networks. Summary: We present a review on the various use cases that different DLTs can support in multi-robot systems. We argue that the majority of the work to date on open and permissionless blockchains is only applicable to a subset of robotics use cases, with novel DLT architectures and permissioned blockchains driving adoption across industrial and more mature application scenarios.
The proposed study aims to identify the major challenges for blockchain adoption to manage reverse logistics activities of recyclable hospital waste in the Indian healthcare sector, in the COVID era. Fifteen challenges are identified through literature review and experts' views and are prioritized and analyzed for cause-and-effect relationships using a hybrid approach combining Best-Worst Method (BWM) and Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL). A sensitivity analysis is performed to evaluate the results' robustness. The results reveal that the Technological and Regulatory challenges category plays the most influential role consisting of Lack of Government Support and Policies, Lack of Strategic Planning, Lack of Knowledge and Qualified Expertise, Lack of Standards and Regulations, High Cost Involved, and Lack of Top Management Support are the most significant challenges affecting blockchain adoption. This study can support healthcare stakeholders, policymakers, government, and researchers in planning the strategic removal of the challenges to blockchain adoption in the Indian healthcare sector. The identification of the mutual interaction among the challenges will help healthcare decision makers address strategic questions of waste management from a holistic point of view. Since the work is achieved in the Indian healthcare context, generalization of the results must be carefully considered. The present study contributes significantly to discussing blockchain's potential in healthcare waste management. The study's findings can aid decision making process of managers, policymakers, and benefit researchers in this field. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12063-023-00413-9.
Due to the shortage of available kidney organs for transplants, handling every donor kidney with utmost care is crucial to preserve the organ's health, especially during the organ supply chain where kidneys are prone to deterioration during transportation. Therefore, this research proposes a blockchain platform to aid in managing kidneys in the supply chain. This framework establishes a secure system that meticulously tracks the organ's location and handling, safeguarding the health from donor to recipient. Additionally, a machine-learning algorithm is embedded to monitor organ health in real-time against various metrics for prompt detection of possible kidney damage.
Today’s organ donation and transplantation systems pose different requirements and challenges in terms of registration, donor-recipient matching, organ removal, organ delivery, and transplantation with legal, clinical, ethical, and technical constraints. Therefore, an end-to-end organ donation and transplantation system is required to guarantee a fair and efficient process to enhance patient experience and trust. Propose a private Ethereum blockchain-based solution to enable organ donation and transplantation management in a manner that is fully decentralized, secure, traceable, auditable, private, and trustworthy. Develop smart contracts and present six algorithms along with their implementation, testing, and validation details. Evaluate the performance of the proposed solution by performing privacy, security, and confidentiality analyses as well as comparing our solution with the existing solutions. As a result, a ranked list is generated as an output and provided to the transplantation surgeons. Next, the transplant surgeon decides whether the organ is appropriate for the patient based on various considerations, such as the donor’s medical records and the current health of the prospective recipient. Later, when a transplant surgeon accepts the donated organ, the donor’s surgeon is notified to remove the donated organ.
Prasoon Soni, Alok Mathur, Dhruvil Patel, R. Manjula
Organ donation and organ trafficking are significant global health issues that pose ethical and legal challenges. There is a significant shortage of available organs for transplantation compared to the demand, resulting in the emergence of an illegal market for organs. This black market exploits and takes advan- tage of vulnerable individuals, who are coerced into selling their organs for transplant purposes. To address these issues, this research proposes using blockchain technology as a tool for improving transparency and traceabil- ity in the organ donation and transplantation process. The platform is built on top of the Polygon blockchain, using smart contracts to automate various aspects of the process, such as verifying donor and recipient identities, man- aging organ matching, and releasing organ donation records. Patient infor- mation is securely stored using MongoDB, while decentralized digital identi- ties ensure data security and privacy. An administrative dashboard provides a user-friendly interface for managing the system, and regular data analytics and monitoring track key metrics. The use of blockchain technology has the poten- tial to improve the safety and ethical integrity of the organ transplantation process, combat organ trafficking, and improve the availability of lifesaving organ transplants.
The flexibility and low cost of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) offer great potential for them in areas such as disaster relief, energy line inspection, and traffic monitoring. Multiple UAVs form an airborne UAV network to share geo-tagged observation data for better collaborative missions. Blockchain can solve the security threats caused by the environment’s untrustworthiness and the UAV networks’ openness. However, the key to sharing data in blockchain-assisted UAV networks is identifying and understanding observational data and providing authentication query services in free boundary spatial. This paper proposes a blockchain-assisted UAV network data-sharing framework based on Non-Fungible Token (NFT). First, we design a marking and describing data method based on NFT to help geo-tagged data be effectively understood. Moreover, we propose a free-boundary spatial index tree to manage data and provide efficient queries. Furthermore, combined with the consensus mechanism and the blockchain transaction tree, the proposed sharing framework can provide query results authentication. Compared with the existing schemes, analysis and experiments demonstrate that our scheme could support the arbitrary expansion of UAV flight range and the random distribution of observation data in space, save at least 22% of storage overhead and reduce more than 36% of query time overhead.