Blockchain for Internet of Medical
Things: A Technical Review
Fatma Ellouze
1(B) , Ghofrane Fersi
1,2 , and Mohamed Jmaiel
1,3
1 ReDCAD laboratory, National School of Engineers of Sfax, University of Sfax,
B.P. 1173, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia
fatma.ellouze@redcad.org
2 Higher Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (ISSAT), University of Sousse,
Sousse, Tunisia
3 Digital Research Center of Sfax, B.P. 275, Sakiet Ezzit, 3021 Sfax, Tunisia
Abstract. The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) represents a network of implantable or wearable medical devices that continuously collect medical data about the patient’s health status. These data are
heavy, sensitive and require high level of security. With the emergence
of blockchain technology, researchers are focusing on using blockchain
strategies to bring security to healthcare applications. However, such
integration is very difficult and challenging due to the different requirements in these two technologies. We present in this paper a technical
review of existing solutions applying blockchain technology on IoMT.
We analyze these studies, discuss the proposed architectures and how
they managed the integration challenges. The open issues regarding the
application of blockchain over IoMT are also specified.
Keywords: Healthcare · Internet of Medical Things · Security ·
Blockchain
1 Introduction
Recently, with the rapid development of wearable/implantable sensors and wireless communication, researchers are increasingly interested in improving the
health sector in response to human needs by digitizing and decentralizing healthcare institutions and providing continuous and remote medical monitoring. Generated medical data are very critical and must be dealt with care to prevent
any kind of data tampering. In this context, blockchain has emerged as the
most secured, decentralized platform. It provides many powerful features without third party dealing including tamper-proof, immutability, traceability, data
integrity, confidentiality and privacy.
Several research studies have identified blockchain effectiveness for the healthcare ecosystem. The papers [1,8,10,11,16] reviewed existing works related to
using blockchain technology in healthcare to bring security. However, none of
these works has focused on the integration of blockchain technology to the Internet of Medical Things. In this context, we propose our paper that reviews existing
c
The Author(s) 2020
M. Jmaiel et al. (Eds.): ICOST 2020, LNCS 12157, pp. 259–267, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51517-1_22
Things: A Technical Review
Fatma Ellouze
1(B) , Ghofrane Fersi
1,2 , and Mohamed Jmaiel
1,3
1 ReDCAD laboratory, National School of Engineers of Sfax, University of Sfax,
B.P. 1173, 3038 Sfax, Tunisia
fatma.ellouze@redcad.org
2 Higher Institute of Applied Sciences and Technology (ISSAT), University of Sousse,
Sousse, Tunisia
3 Digital Research Center of Sfax, B.P. 275, Sakiet Ezzit, 3021 Sfax, Tunisia
Abstract. The Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) represents a network of implantable or wearable medical devices that continuously collect medical data about the patient’s health status. These data are
heavy, sensitive and require high level of security. With the emergence
of blockchain technology, researchers are focusing on using blockchain
strategies to bring security to healthcare applications. However, such
integration is very difficult and challenging due to the different requirements in these two technologies. We present in this paper a technical
review of existing solutions applying blockchain technology on IoMT.
We analyze these studies, discuss the proposed architectures and how
they managed the integration challenges. The open issues regarding the
application of blockchain over IoMT are also specified.
Keywords: Healthcare · Internet of Medical Things · Security ·
Blockchain
1 Introduction
Recently, with the rapid development of wearable/implantable sensors and wireless communication, researchers are increasingly interested in improving the
health sector in response to human needs by digitizing and decentralizing healthcare institutions and providing continuous and remote medical monitoring. Generated medical data are very critical and must be dealt with care to prevent
any kind of data tampering. In this context, blockchain has emerged as the
most secured, decentralized platform. It provides many powerful features without third party dealing including tamper-proof, immutability, traceability, data
integrity, confidentiality and privacy.
Several research studies have identified blockchain effectiveness for the healthcare ecosystem. The papers [1,8,10,11,16] reviewed existing works related to
using blockchain technology in healthcare to bring security. However, none of
these works has focused on the integration of blockchain technology to the Internet of Medical Things. In this context, we propose our paper that reviews existing
c
The Author(s) 2020
M. Jmaiel et al. (Eds.): ICOST 2020, LNCS 12157, pp. 259–267, 2020.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-51517-1_22