Fort the sixth time, ICCAS is co-organizer of the Workshop on “Modeling and Monitoring of Computer Assisted Interventions – a satellite event of the International Conference on Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Interventions (MICCAI).

Visitors come across an internationally appreciated forum where clinicians, researchers and medical companies discuss issues and solutions on the acquisition, analysis, modeling, and monitoring of computer assisted interventions. A variety of elemental technologies, integration and implementation is required for the contextual operating room of the future. The workshop will establish a new generation of context-aware Computer Assisted Intervention (CAI) systems.

Location: MICCAI 2015, Gasteig München
Day: Friday, 9 October 2015
Time: 8:30am – 12.30pm

Information, topics and program here

29 September 2015

The Annual Conference of the German Society for Computer and Robot-Assisted Surgery (CURAC) in Bremen is the central German-language forum in computer and robot-assisted surgery. It brings together basic research and practical applications. ICCAS also benefited from the intensive professional dialogue between clinicians, technicians, users and developers by contributing its own papers and an information booth.

Max Rockstroh’s presentation addressed the use of an open communication infrastructure of the type already being implemented at ICCAS to support the surgical process, which entails linking up operating technology, sensors and workflow management. As an invited speaker, Rockstroh also reported on the progress made by the flagship project OR.Net. He mainly spoke about the implementation of the developments in the five demonstrators. He emphasized the importance of being able to network different medical devices in the operating room and clinic in order to support operations by means of surgical process models. Meanwhile, Richard Bieck introduced a new concept for interaction between surgeons and assistance systems in computer-aided neurosurgery. Marianne Maktabi’s paper discussed various methods used to analyze surgical workflows. And at the poster session, Bernhard Glaser presented his new concept for sterile interaction in the digital operating room based on eye-tracking technology to enable lightweight, realistic solutions.

29 September 2015

For years, ICCAS has included papers in the scientific program of the Annual Conference of the German Society for Biomedical Engineering (DGBMT). This time, ICCAS researchers held two sessions of their own. During the first session headed by Professor Thomas Neumuth and Dr. Claire Chalopin, a prototype system for computer-assisted neurosurgery was explained. The clinicians suggested harnessing the system’s mobility for applications outside the operating room, such as at the bedside. Other presentations dealt with the situational involvement of technology in operations to support surgery, standardized semantic workflow modeling, and a concept for displaying process and situation related information in an operating network.

The second session chaired by Professor Andreas Melzer and Professor Thomas Neumuth addressed a general concept for the development of model-guided clinical decision support systems. One paper dwelt on model-based brain tumor segmentation using intraoperative ultrasound images. Furthermore, Professor Melzer explained the applications of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound as a computer-assisted theranostic method.

The DGBMT promotes cooperation between scientists, engineers and physicians in research, development, application and teaching. It supports the transfer of knowledge between different disciplines in biomedical technology and works towards the rapid translation of new technologies into clinical applications. The annual DGBMT conference is an important platform for these aims.

29. September 2015

Auf dem 15. MEDINFO-Weltkongress trafen im August die weltweit führenden Experten im Bereich eHealth und Biomedizinische Informatik zusammen, um gemeinsam herausfordernde Probleme in der Gesundheitsversorgung und biomedizinischen Wissenschaft anzugehen. Das ICCAS leistete einen wesentlichen Beitrag mit seiner Forschung am Digitalen Patientenmodell. In einem Workshop unter Leitung von Dr. Kerstin Denecke wurden weit reichende Kenntnisse aus diesem Arbeitsfeld präsentiert. Dr. Claire Chalopin stellte Ergebnisse zu einem Patienteninformationsmodell vor, das die Therapie bei Tumoren der Hirnanhangsdrüse unterstützen soll. Dieses fußt auf dem openEHR-Standard. Patientendaten, Behandlungsberichte, Befunde und Bilder werden darin standardkonform dargestellt. Das dahinterstehende technische Konzept erläuterte Stefan Kropf. Die Ergebnisse stießen in der openEHR Community – die weltweit eine wachsende Nutzergemeinschaft verzeichnen kann – auf großes Interesse. Das ICCAS soll nun zur weiteren Entwicklung flexibler E-Health-Systeme beitragen.

Andere ICCAS-Vorträge beschäftigten sich mit Methoden der Informationsextraktion und des Textmining zur Realisierung von modellbasierten Unterstützungssystemen für Therapieentscheidungen sowie mit probabilistischer Modellierung. Zudem unterstütze Kooperationspartner Dr. Koray Atalag von der University of Auckland (Australien) den Workshop in Sao Paulo mit seinem Wissen zur Modellierung der menschlichen Physiologie. Bernhard Glaser aus dem Forschungsfeld Modellbasierte Automation und Integration präsentierte auf der Konferenz den Prototypen eines interaktiven Trainingssystems für OP-Personal.

Am 30. September 2015 wird Prof. Georg Rose vom Magdeburger Forschungscampus STIMULATE über neue Technologien für Bildgebung und Interventionen sprechen. Die Veranstaltung findet in der Liebigstraße statt. Alle Interessenten sind herzlich eingeladen.

Datum: Mittwoch, 30.09.2015
Uhrzeit: 16:00 Uhr
Ort: „Glaskasten“ im Haus 4, Liebigstraße 20, Leipzig

Vortrag: Der Magdeburger Forschungscampus STIMULATE- Neue Technologien für Bildgebung und Intervention

Im Mittelpunkt der Forschungsaktivitäten steht die Entwicklung von innovativen bildgeführten minimal-invasiven Operationen für gesellschaftlich höchst relevante Krankheitsbilder. Die zentralen Vorteile der minimal-invasiven bildgestützten Methoden liegen sowohl in der geringen körperlichen Belastung für Patienten (kurze Liegedauer, schnelle Genesung) – für schwer kranke Patienten stellen diese Methoden häufig die einzige Therapieoption dar –  als auch in der Senkung der Behandlungskosten für das Gesundheitswesen.

Der inhaltliche Fokus von STIMULATE liegt auf ausgewählten neurologischen und onkologischen Erkrankungen. Einerseits fokussiert STIMULATE auf Tumore der Leber und der Wirbelsäule. Andererseits konzentriert sich der Forschungscampus auf die Entwicklung medizintechnischer Lösungen für Schlaganfallpatienten. Die Ausrichtung auf Themen der anwendungsnahen Grundlagenforschung stärkt den Transfer- und Translationsgedanken.

Forschungsschwerpunkte von Prof. Georg Rose:

• Interventionelle Bildgebung, insbesondere Röntgen und CT
• Instrumente für bildgeführte Eingriffe, insbesondere für Röntgen und MRT
• Brain-Machine-Interfaces
• Telemedizin und medizinische Telematik

Zur Person: Prof. Georg Rose ist seit dem 1.1.2006 als Professor für Medizintechnik an der Fakultät für Elektro- und Informationstechnik an der Otto-von-Guericke Universität Magdeburg tätig (www.LMT.OVGU.de). Er baute hier den Schwerpunkt Medizintechnik auf, initiierte und etablierte den internationalen Masterstudiengang Medical Systems Engineering sowie den Bachelor für Medizintechnik. Darüber hinaus warb er zahlreiche Drittmittelprojekte ein, so zuletzt federführend den BMBF-Forschungscampus STIMULATE, dessen Sprecher er ist.

Kontakt:
Prof. Dr. rer. nat. Georg Rose
Lehrstuhl Medizinische Telematik und Medizintechnik
Gebäude 09, Universitätsplatz 2, 39106, Magdeburg, G09-324

Tel: 0391-67-18862 (G09)
Georg.Rose@ovgu.de

09. September 2015

Im Rahmen eines eingeladenen Vortrags stellte ICCAS-Informatiker Stefan Franke (MAI) auf der EMBC-Konferenz neue Technologien für den fortschrittlichen Operationssaal vor. Dazu zählen die workflow-gestützte Teilautomation von Medizingeräten sowie die intelligente Darstellung von Patienteninformationen und OP-Dokumentationen. ICCAS-Informatiker Max Rockstroh (MAI) erläuterte seine Arbeiten zur webbasierten Visualisierung von Anästhesiedaten anhand eines Posters.

Die International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC) ist eine der bedeutendsten Konferenzen für Entwicklungsarbeiten im Bereich Medizintechnik. Sie bietet ein exzellentes Forum für den internationalen Austausch zwischen Informatikern, Ingenieuren und Medizinern. Schwerpunkte sind bild- und modellgestützte Interventionen, Entscheidungs- und Therapieunterstützung sowie computerassistierte Bildgebung.

07 September 2015

On August 29, ICCAS celebrated its tenth anniversary by hosting an international symposium at Universität Leipzig’s Paulinum. Attended by distinguished guests, the symposium was opened by ICCAS director Professor Andreas Melzer, who also presided over the scientific program. He thanked those attending for their joint work in advancing computer-assisted surgery.

In his review of the past decade, Professor Jürgen Meixensberger praised ICCAS’s achievements and spoke about its future strategy, which will include focused collaboration with industry. Keynote speaker Professor Ron Kikinis from the Fraunhofer MEVIS Institute for Medical Image Computing then spoke about the need to introduce vendor-neutral standards for the exchange of data and information in the operating room. He stressed that because this was an area with no market for industry, the scientific community had a key role to play in this respect. And he added that processing complex medical data so that doctors can access it before, during and after surgery was a big challenge for everyone involved.

Presentations and papers by other partners followed. Professor Markus Krabbes from HTWK Leipzig University of Applied Sciences used examples to show how both HTWK and Universität Leipzig have benefited from cooperation with ICCAS in various ways for many years. Then again, the joint research project recently launched by ICCAS and the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences came about almost by chance. The MPI’s Professor Arno Villringer explained in this regard the possible use of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) on patients suffering neurological disorders.

After a snack and poster presentations, some of ICCAS’s clinical partners explained their developments in computer-assisted medicine. Professor Joerg Seeburger (Heart Center Leipzig), Professor Thomas Kahn (Director of Radiology at Leipzig University Hospital) and Professor Bernhard Sattler (medical physicist specializing in nuclear medicine at Leipzig University Hospital) described the latest computer-aided therapy methods and thanked Professor Melzer for the valuable inspiration provided by his knowledge of MRgFUS. Professor Andreas Dietz, director of the ENT Department at Leipzig University Hospital and a member of the Board of ICCAS ever since it was founded, praised the excellent cooperation between ICCAS’s researchers and doctors. He underlined the rapid implementation of auxiliary technology, which is now routinely used by Leipzig University Hospital’s weekly tumor board. However, he emphasized that although smart technology harbored tremendous opportunities to support physicians, it cannot replace them.

ICCAS pioneer Professor Thomas Neumuth and ICCAS junior researcher Mario Cypko reported on technical research development by ICCAS. They highlighted important goals on which ICCAS is working such as surgical workflow management, situation-aware surgical assistance systems, and the Digital Patient Model.

The final paper was delivered by Professor Heinz U. Lemke, who also sits on the Board of ICCAS and is another founder member – indeed, many of ICCAS’s innovations are based on his ideas. Professor Lemke is striving to introduce DICOM standards into the operating room, something that hitherto has been hampered by a lack of political will. According to Professor Lemke, standards are set to play a major role in the vendor-neutral integration of technology in the operating room, enabling both interoperability and the consistent display of information. He referred to a recent EU decision defining IHE profiles as the standard for public tenders and added that in future, industrial products would be judged by whether they were IHE-compliant. Accordingly, ICCAS’s preparatory work for IHE in surgery fully reflects the prevailing trend in this sphere.

The symposium ended with a discussion between the speakers and the audience. Once again, attention was drawn to the important role of the physician. It was repeated that technical innovations are designed not to replace surgeons, but instead to help them arrive at treatment decisions in a more transparent manner based on verifiable knowledge – and hence create more confidence and reliability for both doctor and patient. During the subsequent reception held in the nearby Moritzbastei, the visitors took the opportunity to continue their discussions and look back on the past decade over a glass of sparkling wine.

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01 September 2015

Last week ICCAS hosted the Digital Operating Room Summer School (DORS) for the second time. Participants came from all over the world to further their knowledge about the development of surgical assistance systems for the modern operating room. The one-week intensive course included lectures, practical workshops, a teaching session at the Faculty of Medicine’s Anatomical Institute, and surgical consultations at both the Heart Center and the newly opened operating theatre of the ENT Department at Leipzig University Hospital. DORS was a valuable opportunity for participants to find out about ICCAS’s key areas of innovation such as the Digital Patient Model, operating room infrastructure and workflow management, not to mention the latest technology used in practical areas. The participants praised the good balance between clinical and technical aspects as well as the theoretical explanations and practical sessions. In fact, a number of young computer scientists gained their first surgical experience, while some engineers picked up a surgical instrument for the very first time as they used phantoms to experience the advantages of high-tech developments for surgeons. Apart from ICCAS’s own researchers, the speakers included renowned clinical experts from Leipzig and also international experts in computer-assisted surgery. The participants benefited from direct interaction with experienced scientists and received advice regarding their own fields of research.

The positive feedback and higher attendance compared to last year, including visitors from Europe, Canada and America, are very encouraging for the continuation of DORS next year.

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27. August 2015

Anlässlich seines 10 jährigen Jubiläums lud das ICCAS am 27.08.2015 zu einem Pressegespräch ein. Institutsdirektor Prof. Andreas Melzer und Prof. Thomas Neumuth informierten über den erfolgreichen Werdegang sowie aktuelle und zukünftige Projekte des Instituts. Prof. Melzer erläuterte in diesem Zusammenhang die möglichen Anwendungen des Fokussierten Ultraschalls unter Magnetresonanztomographie, die im neuen ICCAS-Forschungsfeld „Nichtinvasive Bildgebende Chirurgie“ eine große Rolle spielen werden. Anschließend erklärten Wissenschaftler am Computerkonstrukt den Stand der Forschung zum „Digitalen Patientenmodell“. Der Demo-OP wurde zur Kulisse für die eindrucksvolle Simulierung einer Nasennebenhöhlen-OP unter Steuerung eines mitdenkenden Assistenzsystems, das die OP-Schritte erkennt und den Chirurgen vor Gefahrensituationen warnt. Die Demonstration der „Magischen Linse“ – eines iPads mit dem der Chirurg wie durch ein Fenster ins Innere des Körpers schauen kann – war abschließender Teil der gelungenen ICCAS-Präsentation.

Video info tv leipzig

Artikel LVZ

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20. Juli 2015 Vergangene Woche besuchten Mitarbeiter und Bachelorstudenten der Creative Unit „Intra-Operative Information“ der Universität Bremen das ICCAS. Die fachübergreifende Forschungsgruppe, deren Leiter Prof. Ron Kikinis vom Fraunhofer MEVIS ist, beschäftigt sich vor allem mit dem Problem der Mensch-Maschine-Interaktion bei der Verwendung von Bilddaten im Operationssaal.

Die Besucher aus Bremen nutzten den ICCAS-Demo-OP als kliniknahes Umfeld für die Evaluation von Fußschalter-Interaktionskonzepten, die im Rahmen eines Bachelorprojekts entstanden. ICCAS-Wissenschaftler sowie Kliniker testeten die Prototypen und setzten mit ihren Expertisen entscheidende Impulse für deren Verbesserung. Ziel ist, dass der Chirurg selbst während einer OP mit den Bilddaten (wie z.B. 3D-Modellen) arbeiten kann.