Prof. Nicolas Padoy awarded €1.95 million ERC grant for ambitious digital surgery project  – CompSURG

Prof. Nicolas Padoy awarded €1.95 million ERC grant for ambitious digital surgery project – CompSURG

IHU Strasbourg Scientific Director and University of Strasbourg Professor, Nicolas Padoy, head of the CAMMA research team, has been awarded the prestigious ERC Consolidator Grant for his project entitled “Computational Methods to Analyse Intra-operative Adverse Events in Surgery at Scale (CompSURG).” The grant, worth 1.95 million euros, will fund his research over a span of five years. By bridging the fields of artificial intelligence and digital surgery, this ambitious project aims to improve surgical safety and, consequently, patient safety.

 

CompSURG aims to develop a novel computational methodology for analyzing intra-operative adverse events (IAEs) from surgical videos on a large scale. Currently, IAEs are under-reported, hindering their thorough analysis, the establishment of appropriate safety measures, and the development of intraoperative assistance systems to reduce their occurrence. Recent studies have shown that IAEs, while previously considered inconsequential, may in fact be indicative of serious complications and poor surgical outcomes.

Building on these findings, CompSURG will propose a radically new computational approach to improve intra-operative surgical safety, with a specific focus on automatic recognition and analysis of surgical activities and IAEs in endoscopic videos. This will involve developing novel cutting-edge computer vision and machine learning techniques to achieve groundbreaking models of the intricate interactions between surgical tools and anatomy, examine activity patterns and variability on a large scale, and identify critical steps requiring safety measures.

ERC Consolidator Grants are highly competitive awards bestowed upon outstanding researchers regardless of their nationality or age. The sole criterion for selection is scientific excellence. Recipients of the grant should have between seven and twelve years of post-doctoral experience and conduct their research in a public or private research organization located in an EU member state or associated country. The funding primarily supports the employment of researchers and staff to strengthen the recipients’ teams and is awarded for a maximum duration of five years.

The joint IHU – University of Strasbourg CAMMA research team led by Prof. Nicolas Padoy aims at developing new tools and methods based on computer vision, medical image analysis and machine learning to perceive, model, analyze and support clinician and staff activities in the operating room using the vast amount of digital data generated during surgeries. Nested in the IHU building, the team benefits from a unique infrastructure and eco-system with the university hospital and IRCAD.

Camma
IHU
Université de Strasbourg
“France 2030”: 12 new IHUs created

“France 2030”: 12 new IHUs created

IHU France welcomes this initiative by the French government to promote the unique model of excellence and acceleration of innovation in healthcare

On May 16, 2023, the French President announced the creation of 12 new University Hospital Institutes (IHUs) as part of the France Santé 2030 scheme. The Alliance IHU France, which brings together FOReSIGHT, IHU ICAN, IHU Strasbourg, Institut du Cerveau, Institut Imagine and Liryc, congratulates the newly appointed IHUs and welcomes this government initiative, which validates the strength of the IHU model by extending it to new medical and scientific themes. This reinforcement is part of a shared ambition for innovation and excellence in biomedical research in France.

IHU: accelerating innovation to invent the medicine of the future

Emblematic creations of the Programme d’Investissement d’Avenir (PIA), the IHUs have been given the mission of accelerating innovation in healthcare for the benefit of patients. The rejection of ivory towers, agility and the development of synergies have encouraged the emergence of excellent biomedical innovations and their transfer to the business world.

Created in 2011, the IHUs bring together research, care, development and training in a single location, and are now fully recognized as third-party experimentation centers. The IHUs have become major players in university hospital research, thanks to their scientific excellence, as demonstrated by their attractiveness for competitive research funding. They are also key partners for industrial companies involved in healthcare innovation.

In less than 10 years, the IHUs have achieved tangible results: over 320 patents filed, 18,000 scientific publications, 1,000 new clinical trials, 45 start-ups created, over 600 million euros in co-financing raised, and induced economic development in excess of 1 billion euros, while State investments represent 277 million euros*, i.e. a leverage effect of 5 to 7.

These new IHU and bioclusters will complement the fields of research already covered by the existing institutes: genetic, visual, cardiometabolic and nutritional diseases, central nervous system, cardiac rhythm, image-guided surgery and emerging infections.

IHU France is delighted to welcome the new IHUs:

  • VBHI, Bordeaux, cerebral vascular diseases, IHU
  • Prism, Villejuif, oncology, IHU
  • re-Connect, Paris, hearing disorders, IHU
  • Prometheus, Garches, sepsis, IHU
  • Thema-2, Paris, hematology, IHU
  • Cancers des femmes, Paris, gynecological cancers, IHU
  • Everest, Lyon, liver pathologies, IHU
  • RespirERA, Nice, respiratory pathologies, IHU
  • IMMUN4CURE, Montpellier, immunotherapies, IHU
  • InovAND, Paris, pediatric neurodevelopment, IHU
  • HealthAge, Toulouse, gerontology and aging, emerging IHU
  • Infiny, Nancy, inflammatory bowel diseases, emerging IHU

IHU France is also delighted with the accreditation of 4 new bioclusters, in particular the Brain & Mind biocluster, which brings together three of the Alliance’s IHUs (Institut du Cerveau, Institut de la Vision and Institut Imagine) and two new ones accredited today (InovAND and re-Connect), and the GenoTher biocluster, of which Institut Imagine is a partner.

With the IHU, the French government aims to make France the leading European nation for innovation in healthcare, and to achieve nationally independence in healthcare.

The success of this new call for IHU projects illustrates the effectiveness of the model, now firmly anchored in the medical innovation ecosystem. With these 12 new IHUs, France now has a new capacity to accelerate and innovate in healthcare in priority areas such as complex data mining, personalized care pathway modeling, diagnostic, therapeutic and preventive simulation using digital twins, and disruptive innovations such as gene and cell therapies for patients. The aim of this combined expertise is to multiply diagnostic capabilities, medical and surgical decision support, and treatments.

The challenge now is to make IHU France a tool for meeting international demands and remaining as responsive and competitive as possible, so as to make France the leading European nation for innovation and achieve sovereignty in healthcare.

The Innovation Santé 2030 plan launched by the government was conceived precisely with this ambition, making a commitment in June 2021 to a strong, value-creating industry to bring, with the impetus of the Secrétariat Général pour l’Investissement (SGPI) and the Agence Innovation en Santé (AIS), direct, concrete solutions to patients and the medical community.

About IHU France

Emblematic creations of the “Investissements d’Avenir” program, the IHUs have been given the mission of integrating and accelerating the action processes of hospital and university research, to disseminate biomedical innovations more rapidly to patients and the economic fabric. IHU France brings together the 6 IHUs: FOReSIGHT, ICM (Institut du Cerveau), IHU ICAN, IHU Strasbourg, Imagine (Institut des maladies génétiques) and Liryc (L’institut des maladies du rythme cardiaque), which combine their strengths, initiatives and proposals to accelerate medical innovation in France. The IHUs have demonstrated́ the power of a model of excellence bringing together in a single location all the expertise that enables medical research to be transformed into innovation for the benefit of patients.

* In 2018, the FOReSIGHT IHU was awarded €50 million in funding under the PIA 3 IHU call for projects. In 2019, the 5 other IHUs in the Alliance IHU France were awarded a further 63 million euros.

IHU Strasbourg is part of the pan European TEF-Health consortium, bridging the gap between research and market in healthcare AI and robotics

IHU Strasbourg is part of the pan European TEF-Health consortium, bridging the gap between research and market in healthcare AI and robotics

The IHU Strasbourg is among 52 partners from 9 countries of the European Union to launch the TEF-Health project.

The consortium, led by the Charité Hospital in Berlin, aims to develop TEFs – Testing and Experimentation Facilities – to bridge the gap between research and the market, and is co-financed by the European Union for the 5-year duration of research and implementation activities.

Pushing the boundaries of the evaluation of artificial intelligence and robotics in the healthcare sector, the consortium aims to set up testing facilities, including both infrastructure and the definition of best practices protocols in line with European standards, that will facilitate innovation and experimental research. The overarching goal is to improve patient care and ensure compliance with legal, ethical, quality and interoperability standards.

The IHU’s clinical and GPL-compliant preclinical facilities and world-class experienced Research, Medical and Innovation teams will be instrumental in guiding client company teams in the project from planning to implementation.

IHU Strasbourg is a member of the French node, led by the LNE (Laboratoire national de métrologie et d’essais), together with the University Hospitals of Rennes, Grenoble Alpes and Lyon, University Grenoble Alpes, EIT Health and CEA Clinatec.

 
eCAP: Towards universal access to digestive disease diagnostics

eCAP: Towards universal access to digestive disease diagnostics

On 4 May 2022, a hybrid kick-off meeting took place for the eCAP project: recipient of a €4.7 million grant from the European Union’s Research and Innovation Programme Horizon Europe. The aim of the project is to deliver a novel medical device combining a smart capsule with an e-health platform to enable better diagnostics, patient empowered disease management and hence, improved outcomes for patients with gastrointestinal (GI) diseases, a major source of population morbidity and care costs worldwide. The consortium, composed of 10 partners from research organisations and industry across Europe and Kenya, will demonstrate the universality of the eCAP solution in clinical trials in France as well as low resource environments by bringing the device to patients who so far have had limited access to GI disease diagnostics.

ehealth-cap.eu

GI diseases, which range from functional problems to cancers, are among the most common medical ailments across the globe. Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) alone affects an estimated 1.2 billion people globally, with prevalence growing in all regions of the world. Many GI diseases are difficult to diagnose as the symptoms are often vague and variable. Moreover, currently available diagnostics requires highly skilled interpretation and high set-up cost, leading to a dramatic lack of access. For instance, GERD is subject to definitive diagnostic testing in less than 2% of cases.

eCAP enabled diagnostics of GI disease

eCAP enabled diagnostics of GI disease

The eCAP consortium will develop a smart multi-sensing capsule, implanted by minimally invasive techniques, that enables GI physiology monitoring for a controlled period of time. Using ubiquitous smartphone communication standards and cloud computing, real-time patient experience data will be collected through an interactive user-friendly application. Patient-empowered disease management will be supported by accurate interpretation of the data by physicians, aided by Artificial Intelligence. “More accurate, cost-effective, patient-friendly testing for acid reflux is an increasingly urgent need today that the current solutions out on the market do not meet. I think the exciting thing is that this particular group of partners is uniquely suited to getting together to solve the problem of GI diseases affecting people worldwide”, explains Lee Swanström, Project Coordinator from the IHU Strasbourg. “As we began discussions, we had great ideas for expanding the initial proof of concept, even beyond GERD testing, so the project has enormous potential. We certainly thank the European community for recognizing our vision and supporting this project.”

eCAP will run for four years and draw on world-class expertise. The project is led by the Institute of Image-Guided Surgery of Strasbourg (FR). Technical solutions will be developed by Tyndall National Institute (IE), Sentron Europe BV (NL), Integer (IE) and Enterasense (IE), based on the user design input from Imagination Factory (UK). Clinical studies in Kenya and Ukraine will be conducted by Operating Theatre Practitioners Association of Kenya (OTPAK, KE) and a gastroenterology and endoscopy clinic in Kyiv – Olymed (UA), which continues to be actively involved in the project, despite the devastating hurdles they are undergoing today. Health economic analysis will be undertaken by Betthera (CZ) and project management and dissemination activities by AMIRES, The Business Innovation Management Institute (CZ).

Project consortium:

eCAP_Consortium

Project duration: 1 May 2022 – 30 April 2026

Press contacts: 

– Lee Swanström (Project Coordinator) lee.swanstrom@localhost

– Kristin Saar (Project Manager) saar@amires.eu

European Union

Project “5G-OR” – Kick-off for the operating room of the future

Project “5G-OR” – Kick-off for the operating room of the future

The project partners of the cross-border Franco-German joint project “5G-OR” have been gathered in Strasbourg to set the course for successful interdisciplinary cooperation. The project aims to create a Franco-German 5G-capable operating room ecosystem for hospitals. After interesting presentations from the fields of medicine, telecommunications, AI, robotics, and medical technology, the participants worked intensively on the realization of the digital hospital.

5G OR Consortium

The partners of the 5G-OR project are developing various 5G applications in the operating environment. The aim is to improve patient care in hospitals. The applications will be deployed in German and French facilities with 5G campus networks and validated in a realistic clinical environment.

Networking medical devices with powerful communication technologies such as 5G enables fast and structured collection of medical data and vital signs parameters.  Aided by AI algorithms, the data can be interpreted close to real-time and can also be used for telemedical applications. In addition, robotic assistance systems can be used to provide support in everyday hospital life and thus relieve the burden on the medical staff. The solutions developed, such as the use of data-controlled and AI-supported surgery, are intended to improve surgical outcomes and increase patient safety. With the help of 5G campus networks, the required technical infrastructure is to be implemented in the operating rooms of the Charité Berlin, the Fraunhofer IPA in Mannheim, and the IHU Strasbourg.

The 5G-OR Program is a winner of the joint Franco-German Program for the development of Innovative Applications for 5G Private Networks

The 5G-OR Program is a winner of the joint Franco-German Program for the development of Innovative Applications for 5G Private Networks

PRESSE RELEASE
Berlin, Mannheim, Rennes, Reutlingen, Strasbourg and Tuttlingen
February 3rd, 2022

5G-OR is one of the 4 winning projects jointly selected by the Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Action in Germany and the Ministry of Economy, Finance and Relaunch in France for the call “Technical developments and application ecosystems for 5G private networks”. The joint Franco-German 5G-OR project takes up the challenge in the healthcare domain. It will explore the benefits of a 5G-enabled operating room ecosystem – a fundamental hospital component – to support medical and paramedical teams to improve patient outcome. The ambition is to strengthen Europe’s position in the 5G-enabled medical technology arena by establishing an innovation ecosystem for the development of new products and quality services.

Towards the hospital of the FUTURE

Digitisation is now being integrated into the modern hospital infrastructure. In this context, wireless communication technology is emerging as a central element of a hospital’s future environment with the need to achieve rapid and secure data transmission and analysis. The goal of 5G-OR is to create a demonstrator of a Franco-German 5G private network application ecosystem for hospitals with a specific focus on the Operating Room (OR) environment. The OR is a highly suitable environment to demonstrate the value of the intra-hospital 5G private network as it is the most concentrated node of healthcare complexity with data-dense and logistics-heavy requirements. In addition, the OR is the highest risk environment for patient safety and a major cost centre for the hospital.

5G-OR is centred around the development of the next generation of a 5G-enabled OR ecosystem intended to improve patient outcome. The underlying concept is that data-driven and Artificial Intelligence assisted surgery within a digital OR will enable more accurate and precise operations as well as fewer complications. The OR generates massive and disparate data from a multitude of sources. Here, the challenge is to make data usable for example by providing real-time feedback to medical staff. The 5G communication technology holds the capacity to enable efficient exploitation of the data generated in the OR. It is expected that efforts towards standardisation requirements for quality service and industrialisation will take the next-generation OR to a new level of service. 5G-OR will assemble these elements into a workable and reproducible package and subsequently validate its worth and interoperability with cross-border clinical use cases.

Four clinical use cases

The consortium has selected four use cases to be operated in the Franco-German 5G ecosystem to demonstrate the value of 5G private networks in the OR. The first two use cases tackle the decision-making in the OR for better patient safety through real-time analysis of massive data. The teams will use Artificial Intelligence to continuously analyse patient vital signs and surgical video, transmitted by 5G wireless medical devices for the detection of early warning signs of potential complications. Another use case pertains to remote-enabled robotic telesurgery powered by real-time data with the goal to perform remote cross-border robotic telesurgery using a 5G network connection. The fourth use case targets the optimisation of the complex logistics of the OR environment. The consortium will evaluate the benefits of 5G-enabled logistics support in the OR by autonomous mobile robotic assistant providing devices, materials, and instruments required for surgery.

5G-OR: Four clinical use cases in a Franco-German 5G ecosystem

A unique multidisciplinary consortium

The 5G-OR consortium is well balanced between R&D, Healthcare, and business. It is leveraging strong cooperation between complementary French and German partners, who have a common vision of the digital OR for better patient care. This includes hospitals and R&D centres : Institute Fraunhofer IPA in Mannheim, Institute of Image-Guided Surgery in Strasbourg, Institute of Research and Technology b<>com in Rennes, Charité University Hospital in Berlin, Reutlingen University, together with an innovative large company and SMEs : Karl Storz in Tuttlingen, SectorCon in Berlin and RDS in Strasbourg. Partners in 5G-OR are leaders in all aspects needed for the success of the project and have already made significant contributions to solving critical elements of this global vision.

5G-OR, Partenaires

Project profile

5G-OR – Establishing the next generation of a 5G-enabled operating room ecosystem to improve patient outcome, Project Link

Duration: Three years from January 1, 2022
Budget and Funding volume:  Total Budget: 5,9 M€;         Total Funding: TBD;

Project partners

GERMANYFRANCE

Fraunhofer IPA

KARL STORZ SE & Co. KG

Reutlingen University

Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin

SectorCon GmbH

IHU-Strasbourg

b<>com Institute of Research and Technology

RDS (Rhythm Diagnostic Systems)

 

Contacts project coordinators

GERMANYFRANCE
Fraunhofer IPAIHU Strasbourg
M. Johannes Horsch
Tel.  +49 621 17207146johannes.horsch@ipa.fraunhofer.de
M. Jean-Luc Dimarcq
Tel.  +33 3 90 41 36 00jean-luc.dimarcq@localhost

 

CONTACTS PRESSE

GERMANYFRANCE

joerg-dieter.walz@ipa.fraunhofer.de

 

presse@localhost

Marion.CARCREFF@b-com.com

THE 5G-OR PROGRAM IS A WINNER OF THE JOINT FRANCO-GERMAN PROGRAM FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF INNOVATIVE APPLICATIONS FOR 5G PRIVATE NETWORKSDownload the complete press release in French, February 3, 2022