Medical Technology as Field of Application
The application field of medical technology combines the contents of the main research areas and places particular emphasis on the methodical development of medical simmulation models for medical training and education, phantoms for medical imaging, and the design of individualized medical devices.
Medical simulation models recreate real conditions of human or animal anatomy with the help of physical components. This enables various objectives to be achieved for improving the quality of care and patient safety in teaching, research and development. Among other things, patient-specific vascular models are developed at the PKT, which are manufactured on the basis of medical patient data. In order to counteract the growing complexity generated by a large number of patient-specific models, research is being conducted into a standardized individualization process. This serves to manage the complexity of individualized structures and supports the control of internal diversity. Based on the patient-specific vascular models, a neurointerventional training model has been developed (Hamburger Anatomisches Neurointerventionelles Simulationsmodell HANNES), on which physicians can train minimally invasive, catheter-based treatments of vascular diseases such as aneurysms (ELBE-NTM) as well as for stroke treatment (COSY-SMILE-2).In the future, it will also be possible to simulate the treatment of small vessel diseases such as chronic subdural hematoma (MONTYPIE).
Furthermore, various models for medical imaging (phantoms) are developed at the PKT. The Hamburg prostate biopsy model (HUGO) was designed for training and quality assurance of fusion biopsy of the prostate (PIQUAL). A deformable pelvic phantom can be used for quality assurance of the entire radiotherapy procedure for prostate cancer (CHARLIE). The focus is on the effects of daily changes in the position of the prostate due to varying levels of the urinary bladder and rectum in the patient. A mouse phantom will allow quality assurance of small animal radiation systems in multimodal imaging. Furthermore, the integration of cells and tumor samples into the small animal model is investigated (LEXI). The performed model developments are enabled by modern technologies, such as additive manufacturing processes, and by a targeted and user-centered product development.
In addition to the development of simmulation models and phantoms, the application field of medical technology also includes the development of methods for the individualization of medical devices (BELUCCI). In this process, the medical device is repeatedly adapted to the individual anatomies of each patient. In order to be able to perform this in a complexity-controllable manner, a company must implement a suitable procedure that takes into account the special features of product individualization and enables repeated adaptations.
Current as well as past projects are listed below. More information (currently only in german) about these projects can be found on their linked individual sites.
Current projects
- MONTYPIE - Model for Neurointerventional Treatment in Tiny and Peripheral Vessels, FKZ: 16LW0301K, since 2023
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the program "Alternativmethoden zum Tierversuch". In cooperation with i.a. University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). - PEEK - Development of a phantom for "end-to-end" verification of a small animal irradiation system (Entwicklung eines Phantoms zur „end-to-end“ Verifikation einer Kleintierbestrahlung), FKZ: 03fmthh2021, since 2022:
The project is funded by the Forschungszentrum Medizintechnik Hamburg (fmthh). In cooperation with i.a. University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). - COSY-SMILE-2 - Completely Synthetic Stroke Model for Interventional Development and Education 2, FKZ: 16LW0165K, since 2022:
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the program "Alternativmethoden zum Tierversuch". In cooperation with i.a. University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). - LEXI - Development of a phantom with integrated tumor samples for automated analysis in imaging procedures (Entwicklung eines Phantoms mit integrierten Tumorproben zur automatisierten Analyse in bildgebenden Verfahren), FKZ: LFF-GK10, since 2020: The project is funded by the Behörde für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Gleichstellung (BWFG) project no 1 of the Hamburger Landesforschungsförderung (LFF) as part of the Graduiertenkolleg "Innovative Technologien in der Krebsdiagnostik und -therapie".
Past projects
- COSY-SMILE - Completely Synthetic Stroke Model for Interventional Development and Education, 2019-2022:
The project was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the BMBF-Program „Alternativmethoden zum Tierversuch". In cooperation with i.a. University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE)
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CHARLIE - Development of a method for quality assurance in focal radiotherapy of prostate cancer (Entwicklung einer Methode für die Qualitätssicherung in der fokalen Strahlentherapie des Prostata-Karzinoms), FKZ: 03fmthh2019, since 2020:
The project is funded by the Forschungszentrum Medizintechnik Hamburg (fmthh). In cooperation with i.a. University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). -
PIQUAL - Prostate Phantom for MRI-targeted biopsy Improvement of internal Quality Assurance and Learning Curve, since 2019:
The project is funded by the Behörde für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Gleichstellung (BWFG) as part of a study-project. In cooperation with i.a. University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). - BELUCCI - Individualisierte Flow Diversion Behandlung: Methodische Unterstützung zur individualisierungsgerechten Produktentwicklung und Weiterentwicklung eines In-Vitro Gefäßmodells zur Validierung, 2018 - 2021:
The project was funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). In cooperation with i.a. University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE) and Acandis. - Hamburg TAVI-Studie - Post mortale Untersuchung zur Degeneration von minimalinvasiven und konventionellen Aortenklappen-Prothesen, 2019 - 2020:
The project was funded by the Forschungszentrum Medizintechnik Hamburg (fmthh). In cooperation with i.a. University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). - ALSTER - Aneurysm Like Synthetic bodies for Testing Endovascular devices in Reality: Entwicklung originalgetreuer, dreidimensionaler Modelle von intrakraniellen Arterien und Aneurysmen mittels additiver Fertigung, 2013 - 2015:
The project was funded by the Forschungszentrum Medizintechnik Hamburg (fmthh). In cooperation with i.a. University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE). - ELBE-NTM - Development and Evaluation of a Patient-Based Neurointerventional Training Model: Entwicklung eines neurointerventionellen Trainingsmodells (NTM) zum Training katheterbasierter Operationen zur Behandlung von Hirngefäßaneurysmen, since 2016:
The project is funded by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the program "Alternativmethoden zum Tierversuch". In cooperation with i.a. University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (UKE).