17. September 2014

Wenn aller zwei Jahre die Virtual Physiological Human-Community auf ihrer Konferenz zusammentrifft, werden Methoden und Technologien thematisiert, die eine gemeinsame Betrachtung des menschlichen Körpers über virtuelle Modelle von mechanischen, physiologischen und biochemischen Abläufen ermöglichen.

In diesem Jahr trugen Dr. Kerstin Denecke (DPM) und Jan Gaebel (DPM) über einen eigenen Workshop zum Wissensaustausch bei. Der Workshop mit dem Titel „Models for surgical decision support“ begann mit dem Vorstellen des Digitalen Patientenmodells, wie es momentan am ICCAS am Entstehen ist. Ca. 20 Teilnehmer belebten den produktiven Erfahrungsaustausch, der über den aktuellen Stand in der digitalen Patientenmodellierung für die chirurgische Entscheidungsunterstützung Auskunft gab. Gemeinsam wurden Herausforderungen und Anforderungen diskutiert, die die Gewinnung und Integration geeigneter Informationen und medizinischen Wissens für solche Modelle betreffen. Die Wissenschaftler knüpften Kontakte und sammelten wichtige Informationen, um neue Ziele für die weitere Projektarbeit zu definieren.

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Every two years, the Virtual Physiological Human-Community comes together at its conference. Then, methods and technologies are picked out as a central theme, which enable a common view of the human body by using virtual models of mechanical, physiological and biochemical processes.

This year, Dr. Kerstin Denecke (DPM) and Jan Gaebel (DPM) contributed to the knowledge exchange through the organization of an own workshop. The workshop entitled „Models for surgical decision support” started with a presentation of the Digital Patient Model – as it is currently in progress at the ICCAS. About 20 participants encouraged the productive exchange of experiences, which informed about the current state of the art in digital patient modeling for surgical decision support. Challenges and requirements were discussed together relating to the acquisition and integration of appropriate information and the medical knowledge for such models. The scientists established contacts and gathered important information to define new targets for their further project work.

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15. September 2014

Die Deutsche Gesellschaft für Computer- und Roboterassistierte Chirurgie veranstaltete ihre diesjährige Jahrestagung in den Räumlichkeiten des Klinikums rechts der Isar der Technischen Universität München. Dort tauschten Anwender und Wissenschaftler der Bereiche Chirurgie, Informationstechnik sowie Ingenieurwissenschaften deutscher Institute ihre aktuellen Forschungsergebnisse aus und diskutierten neue Ziele. An dem vielseitigen Programm, das „Synergie durch Interdisziplinarität“ anstrebte, nahmen Prof. Thomas Neumuth, Jens Meier, Bernhard Glaser und Max Rockstroh vom Forschungsfeld MAI teil.

CURAC-Beiratsmitglied Prof. Neumuth übte den Vorsitz der Fachsitzung „Patientenmodelle und Workflow I“ aus. In dieser referierte Jens Meier zum Thema „Aggregation patientenspezifischer Informationen zur Unterstützung der onkologischen Hals-, Nasen-, Ohren Chirurgie“. Bernhard Glaser präsentierte seine „Konzeption einer Kommunikationsarchitektur für ein OP-Instrumententisch-Simulationssystem“ in der Session „Simulation, Training und Ausbildung“.

15 September 2014

This year, the German Society for Computer and Roboter-Assisted Surgery hold its annual meeting in the premises of the Klinikum rechts der Isar – Technische Universität München. There, users and scientists of the areas surgery, information technology and engineering from German institutes exchanged their current research results and discussed new targets. Prof. Thomas Neumuth, Jens Meier, Bernhard Glaser and Max Rockstroh took part at the varied program which aimed “Synergy through interdisciplinary”.

CURAC-board member Prof. Neumuth chaired the session “Patient Models and Workflow”. In this, Jens Meier spoke about the theme “Aggregation of patient specific information to support the oncologic throat-, nose-, ear surgery. Bernhard Glaser presented his “Conception of a communication architecture for an OR-instrument table-simulation system” in the session “Simulation, Training and Education”.

11. September 2014

Die 59. Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Medizinische Informatik, Biometrie und Epidemiologie e.V. (GMDS) versammelte in diesem September wieder zahlreiche Wegbereiter der Digitalisierung im Gesundheitsbereich. Die vom BMBF als Veranstaltung des Wissenschaftsjahres 2014 deklarierte Jahrestagung stand ganz im Zeichen von „Big Data und Forschungsinfrastruktur – Perspektiven für die Medizin“.

Aus dem ICCAS nahmen fünf Wissenschaftler, darunter GMDS-Präsidiumsmitglied Prof. Thomas Neumuth, teil. Referate hielten Dr. Kerstin Denecke (DPM) über Digitale Patientenmodelle zur Entscheidungsfindung in der Modellbasierten Medizin sowie Yihan Deng (DPM) zum Thema „Summarization of EHR Using Information Extraction, Sentiment Analysis and Word Clouds“.

11 September 2014

This September, the 59th Annual Meeting of the German Society for Medical Computer Science, Biometry and Epidemiology (GMDS) e.V. brought together again numerous pioneers of the digitalization in the healthcare sector. Declared from the BMBF as an Event of the Year of Science 2014 the annual meeting was entirely dedicated to the motto “Big Data and research infrastructure – perspectives for medicine.”

Five scientists from the ICCAS took part, among them GMDS-committee member Prof. Thomas Neumuth. Presentations were given by Dr. Kerstin Denecke (DPM) on digital patient model for decision support in model based medicine and Yihan Deng(DPM) on the topic “Summarization of EHR using information extraction, sentiment analysis and word clouds“.

09 September 2014

The ICCAS participated at the 25th European Medical Informatics Conference (MIE 2014) with two conference contributions from the research field Digital Patient- and Process Model. Dr. Kerstin Denecke and Yihan Deng traveled to Instanbul to present their concepts for analysis and modeling of patient data.

Dr. Denecke’s lecture dealt with the analysis of the linguistic features of medical weblogs, particularly against the background including such information in a digital patient model. Deng spoke about the visualization of unstructured patient data for the evaluation of diagnoses and courses of treatment.

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09 September 2014

As in 2012, a researcher of the ICCAS could receive the award for the 2nd place of the Karl-Heinz-Höhne-Preis (MedVis-Award). Frank Heckel got the honor, which is awarded every two years from the Visual Computing for Biology and Medicine (VCBM) Group, for his scientific work on interactive post-correction of automatically generated segmentation results in oncology. The computer scientist from the Fraunhofer-Institut für Bildgestützte Medizin (MEVIS) has been working as guest researcher at the ICCAS for over one year. Here, he analyzes image qualities for the collaborative project OR.NET and supports the cooperation between the ICCAS and the Fraunhofer MEVIS within the scope of the OR.NET-initiatives.

Four days after the award ceremony, Frank Heckel could celebrate another professional success. He defended his doctoral thesis entitled “Sketch-Based Interactive Segmentation and Segmentation Editing for Oncological Therapy Monitoring“ at the Jacobs University Bremen. In this work, he dealt with methods for more accurate and reproducible volumetric measurements of tumors in computer tomography data. The procedures were developed to support radiologists evaluating the effective of chemotherapy. Heckel’s success at the MedVis-Award is based on findings of the dissertation.

The ICCAS congratulates to the outstanding achievements and looks forward to another year, from now on with Dr. Frank Heckel in the research team.

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01 September 2014

Sandra von Sachsen was speaker at the International Conference on Biomedical Engineering and Systems (ICBES) in Prague. At the specialist conference, researchers met who deal with theories and applications of biomedical sciences and biomedical engineering.

Von Sachsen’s lecture on computer-assisted defect classification for the treatment of cervical spinal stenosis presented important research results of the HWS-group – a coding scheme for the description of identified defect characteristics of degenerative modified cervical spinal stenosis and a method for the fully automated detection of stenosis of the spinal canal in the MRT image. The audience asked questions concerning the applicability of the method in the diagnosis of vertebral body fractures. According to Sandra von Sachsen, this is quite possible. A crucial prerequisite is the providing of a greater amount of image data for the image-based classification of the relevant vertebral fractures.

09. August 2014

OR.NET ist ein vom Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung gefördertes Verbundprojekt und steht für „sichere dynamische Vernetzung in Operationssaal und Klinik“. Das ICCAS – von Beginn an Partner in fast allen Teilprojekten – arbeitet seit Anfang des Jahres im Teilprojekt 6 an der Koordinierung des Aufbaus aller Demonstratoren sowie an der Erstellung des Integrationsdemonstrators am Standort Leipzig.

Ca. 20 Partner, darunter Vertreter namhafter Medizintechnikfirmen, Hersteller klinischer Informationstechnologien, Anbieter integrierter Operationssäle sowie Wissenschaftler aus Forschungsinstituten, sind am Teilprojekt 6 beteiligt. Deren Synchronisierung findet regelmäßig in Workshops statt. So auch jenem, der Ende Juli von den Teilprojektleitern Max Rockstroh (ICCAS) und Markus Birkle (UKL Heidelberg) am ICCAS organisiert wurde. Es gab hauseigene Vorträge zum Thema Workflowmanagement und Vorträge der Partner zu den gegenwärtigen Arbeiten an zentralen Komponenten der Open Surgical Communication Platform (OSCP). Zudem wurden die aktualisierten Versionen der Storyboards (Drehbücher) für die Demonstratoren vorgestellt. Die Demonstratoren dienen dazu, die im Gesamtprojekt entwickelten Konzepte und Systeme später in einer realitätsnahen Umgebung anzuwenden.
Der Workshop bot genügend Raum für konstruktive Lösungsvorschläge. Zudem nutzten Teilnehmer die Gelegenheit, den gegenwärtigen Demonstrator-OP des ICCAS in Augenschein zu nehmen.

09 August 2014

OR.NET is a collaborative project funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and stands for “Secure and dynamic networking in the operation room”. From the very start, the ICCAS has been partner in nearly all sub-projects of this lighthouse project. Since the beginning of this year, the ICCAS has been working on the coordination of the construction of all demonstrators and on the establishment of the integration demonstrator at the Leipzig location.

About 20 partners including representatives of renowned medical technology companies, manufacturers of clinical information technology, provider of integrated operating rooms as well as scientists from research institutes are involved in the sub-project 6. The synchronization of the partners takes regularly place in workshops. At the end of July, such a workshop was organized by the subproject leaders Max Rockstroh (ICCAS) and Markus Birkle (UKL Heidelberg) at the ICCAS. The workshop included in-house presentations on workflow management and guest lectures about the current work on the central components of the Open Surgical Communication Platform (OSCP). Furthermore, updated versions of the storyboards for the demonstrators were presented. The demonstrators will be used to apply the overall project concepts and systems in a realistic environment.
The workshop on sub-project 6 left enough room for proposed solutions. Besides, participants took the opportunity to inspect the current demonstrator–OR.

08 August 2014

Last year in autumn, employee of New Zealand’s National Institute for Health Innovation (NIHI) visited the ICCAS to explore common research interests. They already showed interest in working together with the ICCAS at that time. Now the return visit followed by Dr. Kerstin Denecke, who traveled to Auckland with plenty information material about the ICCAS and the work of the research group Digital Patient- and Process Modell. Her points of reference were the NIHI – where studies for information technologies in the healthcare sector are conducted – and the Department of Computer Science at the University of Auckland. Furthermore, an initial meeting with the Bioengineering Institute took place which also deals with patient modelling.

The conversations at the NIHI were successful. Both sides see benefits in a closer cooperation. While the Leipzig scientists are leading in methodical development, the Auckland researchers have much to offer in the field of patient studies. The reason for that is a good availability of patient data gathered over decades. Just as the ICCAS, the National Institute endeavors developments of standardized applications which use openEHR – a good reason to remain in contact.
Further research periods are planned. The Leipzig – Auckland – Research is taking shape.

Wenn am 22. September 2014 die Summerschool des ICCAS für eine Woche ihre Türen öffnet, erwartet die Teilnehmer ein reich gefülltes Programm, das die Entwicklungen und Herausforderungen im Bereich Informationstechnologie für den digitalen Operationssaal zum Gegenstand hat.

In den Räumlichkeiten des neuen Augusteums sowie der Bibliotheca Albertina werden erfahrene Wissenschaftler aus der Medizin, dem Ingenieurwesen und der Informatik ihre Erfahrungen auf den Gebieten medizinische Bildverarbeitung, Computer Vision und IT-Technologien weitergeben und den Teilnehmern beratend zur Seite stehen. Zudem sprechen Klinikbetreiber über Möglichkeiten der Umsetzung neuer IT-Infrastrukturen in ihren Häusern. In einem praktischen Teil werden die Teilnehmer in die menschliche Physiologie und Anatomie eingeführt. Eine Hospitation im OP soll Arbeitsabläufe und Technologien näher bringen. Im ICCAS Konzept-OP können schließlich neueste Entwicklungen anhand von Prototypen und Simulatoren selbst getestet werden.

Angesprochen sind vor allem junge Wissenschaftler und Doktoranden, die sich den neuen Anforderungen an eine personalisierte Medizin mithilfe anwendbarer technologischer Assistenz stellen und dazu Expertenkenntnisse aus erster Hand erfahren möchten. Aber auch alle anderen Interessenten, die den direkten Austausch innerhalb der wissenschaftlichen Community im Bereich computerassistierte Chirurgie suchen, sind herzlich willkommen.
Die Teilnehmerzahl ist begrenzt. Anmeldungen können bis einschließlich 31. 08. 2014 erfolgen.
Das ICCAS freut sich auf lehrreiche Tage in Leipzig, in denen auch das gegenseitige Kennenlernen nicht zu kurz kommen soll.

Weitere Informationen sowie das Anmeldeformular zur DORS gibt es unter www.iccas.de/dors.

Flyer zur DORS

When the ICCAS – Summerschool will open its doors for one week on 22nd September 2014, participants can expect a richly filled program which has the developments and challenges in the field of information technology for the digital operating room as subject matter.

In the premises of the new Augusteum and the Bibliotheca Albertina, experienced scientists from medicine, engineering and computer science will share their experiences in the fields of medical image processing, computer vision and IT-technologies. They will also provide advisory support to the participants. Furthermore, hospital operators speak about the possibilities of implementing new IT-infrastructures in their institutions. During a practical session participants will be introduced into the human physiology and anatomy. An operating room visit will show the current state of the art OR-technologies and workflows in practice. Latest developments can finally be tested on prototypes and simulators in the ICCAS Concept-OR.

Especially young researchers and Ph.D. students should feel concerned who want to face the new requirements on personalized medicine and who want to receive firsthand knowledge from experts. But all other interested persons who are looking for a direct exchange within the scientific community of computer-assisted surgery are very welcome.

The number of participants is limited. Registrations can be submitted until 31st August 2014.
The ICCAS is looking forward to informative days in Leipzig where also the mutual acquaintance should not be neglected.

Further information and the registration form can be found under: www.iccas.de/dors.

Flyer DORS

23 July 2014

Information processing and knowledge management are important workspaces of the DPM research area. Sentiment Analysis of clinical texts is one part of it and the specialty of Yihan Deng. The computer scientist reported about the current research results of this rather unusual method of information retrieval in the medical field at this year’s International ACM SIGIR Conference in Gold Coast (Australia). Among the participants was also DPM junior research group leader Dr. Kerstin Denecke, who is involved in the investigations just like the physician Matthäus Stöhr. The scientists prove that medical records are far away from being objective data sets. They rather include important observations and assessments of the clinical staff about the current health situation of the patients. This allows deducing indications for further therapeutic measures. The sentiment analysis can thus provide important information for the digital patient model which otherwise would remain hidden in the patient records.

The conference – organized by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and the Special Interest Group on Information Retrieval (SIGIR) – is one of the most important events on the topic of “Information Retrieval”. Here, scientists come together who are concerned with the recognition, organization, storage, retrieval and distribution of information in public and private sectors.

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