Zum 27. Mal trafen auf dem Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (CARS) – Kongress renommierte Wissenschaftler, Ingenieure und Mediziner aus aller Welt zusammen, um über richtungsweisende Innovationen in der medizinischen Informatik und der Systementwicklung für Anwendungen in der Chirurgie und Radiologie zu diskutieren. Die Veranstaltung ist für die Wissenschaftler des ICCAS das Forum des Jahres, um einem großen Expertenpublikum eigene Forschungsergebnisse vorzustellen und sich auf den neuesten Stand der weltweiten Forschung im Bereich der computerassistierten Chirurgie zu bringen. So war das ICCAS auch in diesem Jahr in verschiedenen thematischen Sessions und Workshops stark vertreten.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Neumuth, Max Rockstroh und Stefan Franke aus dem Forschungsfeld Modellbasierte Automation und Integration präsentierten zum Thema: “A workflow-driven surgical information source management” die Entwicklung einer Software zur situationsabhängigen Anzeige von intraoperativen Informationen. Diese soll die Arbeitsbelastung des Chirurgen im digitalen Operationssaal reduzieren. Jens Meier referierte über seine Forschungsarbeit zur Verbesserung des Behandlungsprozesses für Tumorpatienten im Bereich der HNO durch die Zusammenführung und Darstellung therapierelevanter Informationen auf einer zentralen Datenbank. Prof. Dr. med. Andreas Dietz hielt einen Vortrag zum Thema: „Personalized medicine in the therapy planning unit: when and when not to opt for surgery”. Philipp Liebmann vertrat das Forschungsfeld Standards auf dem „Luncheon Symposium on The Digital Operating Room: Imaging, Models and Standards“ mit dem Vortrag “IHE in Surgery” und hatte den Vorsitz des DICOM Working Group 24 – Meetings inne. Prof. Dr. med. Jürgen Meixensberger übte den Vorsitz der Session „Computer Assisted Neurosurgery“ aus.

Innerhalb der Kongressreihe nehmen die Themenbereiche rund um die Vernetzung von Medizingeräten und Informationssystemen einen immer größer werdenden Bereich ein. Die steigende Internationalität der Veranstaltung lässt den Wirkungsbereich der vorgestellten wissenschaftlichen Erfolge und fortschrittlichen Ideen weiter wachsen.

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For the 27th time renowned scientists, engineers and physicians from around the world met on the Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (CARS) – congress to discuss pioneering innovations in medical informatics and system development for applications in surgery and radiology. For the ICCAS-scientists CARS means the forum of the year to present own research results to a wide audience of experts and to update their knowledge on worldwide research in the field of computer assisted surgery. Thus, also this year the ICCAS was strongly represented in various thematic sessions and workshops.

Prof. Dr. Thomas Neumuth, Max Rockstroh and Stefan Franke from the research field Model-based Automation and Integration presented on the topic: “A surgical workflow-driven information source management” the development of a software, which displays intraoperative information dependently from situation. This will reduce the workload of surgeons in the digital operating room. Jens Meier spoke about his research to improve the treatment process for cancer patients in the field of ENT by consolidating and visualizing therapy relevant information on a central database. Prof. Dr. med. Andreas Dietz gave a lecture on the topic: “Personalized medicine in the therapy planning unit: when and when not to opt for surgery.” Philipp Liebmann represented the research field Standards at the “Luncheon Symposium on The Digital Operating Room: Imaging, Models and Standards” with the lecture “IHE in Surgery” and chaired the DICOM Working Group 24 – Meeting. Prof. Dr. med. Jürgen Meixensberger was chairman of the session “Computer Assisted Neurosurgery”.

The topics, involving the networking of medical devices and information systems, acquire a growing part within the series of congress. The growth of internationality of the event increases the scope of the presented scientific achievements and progressive ideas.
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On 17 June 2013 for the first time the WORKSHOP ON PROGRAMMING CYBER PHYSICAL SYSTEMS, organized by Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, took place. Stefan Franke from the research group Model-based Automation and Integration (MAI) spoke in his presentation “The surgical workflow management for the digital operating room” about the research results at ICCAS, relating to the integration of medical devices and the modeling of surgical workflows.

Within the workshop an intensive exchange on the topics process modeling and intelligent man-machine interaction arose. New goals and work areas were identified between different disciplines. The discussions on main topics, such as surgical ontologies and process modeling, will be continued over a common communication platform.

Link to the event

PD Dr. rer. nat. habil Thomas Neumuth will held his inaugural lecture “System Innovation in Medicine” at the Leipzig University of Applied Sciences (HTWK) on 19 June 2013.

The leader of the research group Model-based Automation and Integration (MAI) will be awarded an honorary professorship in the field of Information Systems in Medical Technology.

Jens Meier from the research group MAI spent the merry month of May 2013 at the Annenberg Research Park in Los Angeles, USA, to promote the exchange of knowledge between the ICCAS and the Image Processing and Informatics Laboratory (IPILab). The research period contributed to a detailed overview of the research projects from both institutions and showed possibilities for future joint projects.

An important part of the research program was the detailed presentation and a live demonstration of the IT-system oncoflow, developed by Jens Meier at ICCAS and used at the Leipzig University Hospital since March 2013. This innovation received a great response from the local researchers.

The intensive discussions with the local scientists about their project work allowed a detailed insight into their research fields. Furthermore, ideas for concrete joint projects could arise. Thus, bringing together oncoflow and a decision support system from the IPILab is already at the planning stage. An integration of both systems would expand the information base and the possibilities for clinical assistance systems. Another collaborative project could contribute to the support of minimally invasive spinal surgery in neurosurgery.

The research period is an important milestone towards a closer cooperation between the ICCAS and the IPILabs in future, especially, because the research topics of both centers complement each other very well.
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On Wednesday, the 22 May 2013, Stefan Bohn successfully defended his dissertation in computer science.

The thesis entitled “Design of a generic modular IT integration architecture for computer-assisted surgery,” contains the results of the research activities in the field of system integration for the networked digital operating room.

For his doctoral work Dr. Stefan Bohn received the grade magna cum laude.

Congratulations!

Am Mittwoch, dem 22. Mai 2013 wird Stefan Bohn seine am ICCAS erarbeitete Dissertation im Fachgebiet Informatik im Paulinum der Universität Leipzig öffentlich verteidigen.

Die Doktorarbeit mit dem Titel „Design einer generischen modularen IT-Integrationsarchitektur für die computerassistierte Chirurgie“ enthält die Ergebnisse der Forschungsaktivitäten auf dem Gebiet der Systemintegration für den vernetzten digitalen Operationssaal.

Das ICCAS-Team wünscht Stefan Bohn viel Erfolg!

Link zum Einladungsschreiben

With a lecture about knowledge-based systems to support personalized medicine Dr. Kerstin Denecke was involved in the EFMI Special Topic Conference Data and Knowledge for Medical Decision Support, which was held from 17 to 19 April 2013 in Prague.

The speaker pointed out that personalized medicine is becoming more and more important by advances in genome analysis and accentuated the need for including information coming from patients (eg via online diaries) in the treatment planning and diagnosis. The lecture introduced requirements that must be considered in the development of such decision support systems.

Dr. Denecke refers with this topic to her young research at ICCAS. The DPM group, whose leadership she recently assumed, is concerned with the creation of a new patient model, which aims at unproblematic data integration and semantic interoperability. Even including genomic data into the new patient record is not only pure future thinking.

The Special Topic Conference is an important forum, where scientists present recent scientific contributions in the field of medical computer science. It is organized by the European Federation for Medical Informatics (EFMI).

Link to the event

Am Donnerstag, dem 25.04.2013 begrüßt das ICCAS anlässlich des bundesweiten Girls’ Days erneut entdeckungsfreudige Mädchen, die sich u.a. einen Eindruck von den wissenschaftlichen Arbeiten im Bereich der computerassistierten Chirurgie verschaffen möchten.

Während der beruflichen Erkundungstour können sich die Mädchen im Innovationszentrum auf interessante Präsentationen von fünf ICCAS-Wissenschaftlerinnen freuen und von deren Erfahrungsschatz in der Welt der Forschung profitieren. Anschließend geht es im hochtechnologischen Demo-OP praktisch zu. Hier wird Wissenschaft zum hautnahen Erlebnis, wenn die Forschungsaktivitäten an Ort und Stelle demonstriert werden.

Die Wissenschaftlerinnen erwarten interessante Gespräche und hoffen, den Teilnehmerinnen die spätere Entscheidung für einen naturwissenschaftlichen oder technischen Studiengang erleichtern zu können.

On the occasion of Girls’ Day, on Thursday the 25th of April 2013, ICCAS welcomed again inquisitive girls who gained deeper insight into the scientific work in the field of computer assisted surgery.

The girls were invited to interesting presentations of five ICCAS-scientists and benefit from their experiences in the world of research. This was followed by a practical presentation in the high tech demo-OR. Here science was to experience at first hand when Stefan Bohn demonstrated the research activities on a model.

The scientists hope the insights helped the participants to make their subsequent decision for a scientific or technical degree easier.

Im Rahmen der Connecting Healthcare IT 2013 fand am 10. April in Berlin das erste öffentliche Statussymposium zum Verbundprojekt OR.NET statt. Dabei nahmen Stefan Bohn und Max Rockstroh am Projektstatusmeeting teil. OR.NET beschäftigt sich mit der sicheren dynamischen Vernetzung von Medizingeräten und Informationstechnologie in Operationssaal und Klinik.

Innerhalb des Konsortiums unterstützt das ICCAS die Identifikation geeigneter klinischer Anwendungsfälle. Dazu wurden Gespräche mit Vertretern der verschiedenen klinischen Partner (Herzzentrum, HNO, Neurochirurgie) geführt und deren Anforderungen zur gemeinsamen Strukturierung mit den Projektpartnern geteilt. Im zukünftigen Verlauf des Projektes soll ein Integrationsdemonstrator im ICCAS-Demo-OP installiert werden, um die entwickelten Konnektoren, Schnittstellen und Protokolle zu evaluieren.

Neben den Vorträgen der Teilprojektleiter des Konsortiums fand ein reger Austausch mit den Projektbeteiligten statt. Speziell die Vorführung des Vorgängerprojektes smartOR und die Erklärungen zu den technischen Lösungen waren dabei von besonderem Interesse. Ein anschließender Messerundgang hinterließ einen umfassenden Eindruck von den aktuellen Entwicklungen im Bereich der Krankenhaus-IT.

Link zur Veranstaltung

As part of the Connecting Healthcare IT 2013 the first public status OR.NET symposium took place on 10 April in Berlin. There Stefan Bohn and Max Rockstroh participated in the project status meeting. OR.NET deals with secure dynamic networking of medical devices and information technology in the operating room and clinic.

Within the consortium ICCAS supports the identification of appropriate clinical applications. Therefore discussions with various clinical partners (Heart Center, ENT, neurosurgery) were held and their requirements for a common structure with the project partners were shared. In the future course of the project an ‘Integrationdemonstrator’ should be installed in the ICCAS demo OP, in order to evaluate the developed connectors, interfaces and protocols.

Besides the presentations of the project leaders of the consortium a very active exchange with the project partners took place. Specifically the demonstration of the previous project smartOR and the explanations of the technical solutions were of particular interest. A subsequent exhibition tour left a comprehensive impression of the current developments in the field of healthcare IT.
Link to the event

The team of ICCAS is pleased to welcome Dr. Kerstin Denecke, who leads the research group Digital Patient and Process Model since February 2013.

Dr. Denecke studied computer science with the focus on medicine and recently worked at the L3S Research Center, at the University of Hanover. The young scientist has extensive experience in the fields of text analysis and information extraction from medical texts, which is a fundamental requirement for building model-based patient records. During her teaching position at the University of Applied Sciences Berlin she dealt with the visualization of medical data, which brought her in connection with ICCAS.

Dr. Denecke would like to incorporate her knowledge into the young research field of computer assisted surgery. The computer scientist and her new team work on the specification of digital patient- and decision-making models. Furthermore they consider improvements in the medical knowledge- and decision management.

The team of ICCAS wishes Dr. Denecke and her project team a successful start at the Leipzig Innovation Centre.