Storm ID and Zebra Medical Vision have partnered to co-develop an AI-based solution for early detection and prevention of osteoporosis, as part of the UK-Israel collaboration.

A proposal of the two companies for a machine learning-driven model for early detection and prevention of osteoporosis has won a UK-Israel research and development competition.

Under the collaboration, Storm ID and Zebra Medical Vision will work closely with clinical teams in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Assuta Medical Centers.

The companies will work together with a team of clinicians, data scientists and computer scientists for a period of 2 years.

The team will conduct clinical trials and implement the solution in both NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and Assuta Medical Centres.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde emergency consultant David Lowe said: “We are pleased to partner on the development of this innovative new solution for osteoporosis patients through the expertise of the West of Scotland Innovation Hub.

“This is another example of a successful collaboration between industry and the NHS to move forward innovative healthcare. Our clinical teams at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde will support the aim of this project to ultimately identify and treat patients with increased risk of bone breakage before it happens.”
New osteoporosis solution will analyse medical imaging data and patient records

Osteoporosis is an underdiagnosed and undertreated condition, and is a major public health concern. Fragility fractures, defined as insufficiency fractures not related to high-impact trauma, are the major complication of osteoporosis.

Most of the osteoporotic fractures result in considerable morbidity and mortality, and hip fractures are particularly a major concern for an aging population.

Storm ID and Zebra Medical Vision are jointly developing an AI-based preventative care solution that will be capable of identifying people who are at risk of osteoporosis.

The new solution is planned to leverage ML/AI methodologies to analyse medical imaging data and patient records, enabling clinical teams to identify and treat people with risk of fractures before they occur.

The project is partly funded by the UK and Israel partnership, under the EUREKA framework, to advance the industrial research collaboration between the UK and Israel.

EUREKA is an intergovernmental network established in 1985, with an aim to support the research and development projects by industry, research centres and universities across all technological sectors.

Storm ID director Paul McGinness said: “We’re aiming to combine the powerful data exchange capabilities of our own Lenus Health Platform with the machine learning models developed by Zebra Medical Vision to transform osteoporosis screening.

“By predicting ahead of time the potential risk of bone fracture, we can intervene earlier to treat and manage the risk, which is better for the patient and for the health system.”

VitalConnect has launched its latest cardiac monitoring patch, the VitalPatch RTM, for patients who require extended Holter monitoring.

The wearable biosensor looks for 21 different cardiac arrhythmias by using an artificial intelligence electrocardiogram sensor. It continuously monitors four significant vital signs: heart rate, heart rate variability, respiratory rate and activity.

All of the captured data is sent and stored in real-time to the VitalCloud, a secure URL where physicians can view their patients’ data. Patient data is also continuously monitored by VitalConnect’s independent diagnostic testing facility, made up of nationally certified cardiographic and rhythm analysis technicians.

Along with the release of the VitalPatch RTM, VitalConnect is introducing its Extended Holter NOW service, which offers an interim diagnostic report after five days of monitoring. The service has the potential to shorten the monitoring period for some patients due to its ability to provide a more in-depth look at the patient’s condition, VitalConnect said in its announcement.

Upon completion of a patient’s monitoring period, VitalConnect will provide prescribing physicians with a final report of the patient’s condition.

Extended Holter monitors, or ambulatory electrocardiograms, present a way to monitor patients’ cardiac functions outside the walls of a hospital. Because of this capability, physicians can see the heart’s activity during a patient’s day-to-day tasks, according to the American Heart Association.

The fact that they can monitor patients outside of a medical facility frees up space for patients with more immediate needs and limits potential exposure for patients and staff – important considerations during the pandemic.

Earlier this year, VitalConnect received a Food and Drug Administration Emergency Use Authorization for its VitalPatch wearable sensor to monitor patients undergoing COVID-19 treatment. The EUA was granted to spot changes in patients’ QT interval, which may be dangerously prolonged by experimental drug treatments such as hydroxychloroquine or chloroquine.

AliveCor also produces personal ECG devices for remote cardiology monitoring. Most recently, the company received $65 million in a Series E funding round to telehealth, detection and condition-management services to its platform.

For the remote monitoring of vital signs such as body temperature, pulse, heart rate variability, respiration rate, oxygen saturation, sleep and movement, there’s Vitls and its wearable recording device Tégo, which received 510(k) clearance from the FDA this summer.

“Our VitalPatch RTM combines a state-of-the-art solution to comfortably monitor cardiac patients for arrhythmias, while also sending important patient vital signs to the physician,” said Peter Van Haur, CEO of VitalConnect, in a statement.

“This solution not only offers an advancement in cardiac monitoring technology to the cardiology community, but continues to expand our footprint into healthcare markets that can benefit from the innovation that VitalConnect brings to patient care.”

The Saint Marina University Hospital in Varna is at the heart of a European project for personalised medicine. For this episode of Smart Regions, Euronews went to the hospital in Bulgaria to find out more.

The 1,300-bed university hospital is modernising its infrastructure to become a centre of competence and hi-tech research, within 5 years. The transformation has already begun with, among other things, the arrival in December last year of surgical assistance robots.

The Saint Marina University Hospital in Varna is at the heart of a European project for personalised medicine. The 1,300-bed university hospital is modernising its infrastructure to become a centre of competence and hi-tech research, within 5 years. The transformation has already begun with, among other things, the arrival in December last year of surgical assistance robots.

The machines mark a revolutionary change for the doctors because the robots will enable them to operate without being in direct contact with patients. Nikoa Kolev is the project coordinator and said:

“The feeling of operating with a robot is different from the sensations one has had so far in open and laparoscopic surgery. In fact, my personal feeling is that I can immerse myself in the patient’s body,” he explained.

The project has a budget of more than 12 million euros, 85% of which is provided by the European Union Cohesion Policy – and 15% by Bulgarian national funds.

As well as doctors, patients also benefit from the project, especially those suffering from urological diseases or abdominal pathologies, such as Atanas Demirov, who was operated on in June with cancer.

When it was explained to him that laparoscopy surgery had been carried out by robotic assistance, he was surprised.

“When Professor Nikola Kolev explained to me that this was new material, there’s nothing serious, don’t be afraid, everything will be fine. I gave my agreement and that’s it. I’m very happy with the intervention with the robot,” he said.

The university hospital is hoping to become a leader in its field with the work it is carrying out.

Picosun Group, the leading supplier of AGILE ALD thin film coating solutions, partners with prominent Chinese hospitals and researchers to apply medical ALD technology for safer surgical procedures.

Picosun’s biocompatible ALD coatings will be applied on electrosurgical equipment (electrotomes) to improve their performance, safety, and service life.

“It’s great to collaborate with a company such as Picosun to develop solutions for safer and more patient-friendly surgeries. Picosun is the leader in medical ALD solutions. The company has extensive process portfolio for biocompatible ALD materials and their equipment are at use at several medical equipment manufacturers around the world. In China, Picosun is the market leader with numerous PICOSUN® ALD systems installed throughout the country. We have strong trust that this collaboration will result in disruptive new innovations and novel solutions for surgical equipment,” says Longsheng Lu, Professor of South China University of Technology.

Electrotome utilizes high temperature to cut and separate tissue, with simultaneously coagulating blood, and it’s a standard equipment replacing traditional mechanical scalpels in many operations. Tissue and blood sticking and burning on the electrotome blade is a serious problem because the crusted blade risks increased bleeding, tissue damage, tearing and scarring, thus making the patient’s healing time longer. Smoke from the burning tissue may also hinder the surgeon’s vision and increase the risk for error during delicate procedures such as cardiac or neurosurgery.

This far, there hasn’t been a working solution in the market to overcome this problem. ALD technology can potentially provide this solution and thus improve patient safety, wound quality and healing time. ALD forms ultra-thin, pinhole-free coatings with unmatched conformality over the smallest microscale details of the surface, and the ALD process can be performed at moderate temperatures so the method is suitable also for sensitive materials. Deposited over special anti-adhesive micropatterning of the electrotome blade, biocompatible ALD film prevents blood and tissue from sticking to the blade.

“We are happy to extend our PicoMEDICAL™ technology to a yet new healthcare application, and to work with top tier Chinese hospitals and scientists to qualify our solutions in everyday use. ALD is revolutionizing the medical field right now, just like it did to semiconductor industries over a decade ago. We at Picosun want to use our extensive ALD know-how to develop solutions to improve people’s health and quality of life, which is why medical ALD is one of our key markets for the future,” continues Dr. Jani Kivioja, CTO of Picosun Group.

Picosun provides the most advanced AGILE ALD® (Atomic Layer Deposition) thin film coating solutions for global industries. Picosun’s ALD solutions enable technological leap into the future, with turn-key production processes and unmatched, pioneering expertise in the field – dating back to the invention of the technology itself. Today, PICOSUN® ALD equipment are in daily manufacturing use in numerous leading industries around the world. Picosun is based in Finland, with subsidiaries in Germany, USA, China mainland and Taiwan, Singapore, Japan and South Korea, offices in India and France, and a world-wide sales and support network.

The project “Design of anti-adhesive surface modified with bionic microstructures and ALD coatings and its application on surgical electrotomes” is carried out in collaboration with SCUT (South China University of Technology), PLAGH (General Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army), Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital, and Guangzhou First People’s Hospital. The project will start on 1st December 2020 and continue for 3 years. The project is partially funded by Business Finland.

Rapid Medical, a company focused on the development of next-generation neurovascular devices, has announced CE Mark approval for the expanded indication of Comaneci to treat cerebral vasospasm.

Comaneci is the first adjustable remodeling mesh device designed to temporarily support vessels in the brain without occluding blood flow. Over 4,000 procedures have been performed utilizing Comaneci to assist in the coil embolization of wide-neck intracranial aneurysms. With this approval, Comaneci is now indicated for the mechanical dilation of intracranial vessels suffering from vasospasm.

Cerebral vasospasm is a devastating complication of subarachnoid hemorrhage, a type of hemorrhagic stroke. The spasms cause a narrowing of the brain blood vessels, reducing blood flow. This occurs in 70% of patients and leads to neurological deterioration in up to 30%1. Balloon angioplasty has been the main therapy for these symptomatic patients, but balloons block blood flow to the already ischemic brain tissue and carry a risk of vessel perforation. Conversely, the Comaneci device is sequentially expanded, allowing the operator to gradually increase its applied force while also monitoring dilatation. This adjustable diameter, low delivery profile and excellent visibility have drawn physicians around the globe to demand Comaneci for vasospasm treatment as it may provide the ability to treat these patients more effectively and with a lower risk of vessel injury.

“Comaneci’s expanded indication for the endovascular treatment of vasospasm will provide physicians with an exciting new treatment option for our patients,” said Dr. Hervé Brunel, a senior Interventional Neuroradiologist at Marseille University Hospital, France.

Dr. Walid Haddad, Rapid Medical’s Chief Clinical Officer, added, “Initial data collected from our procedures in Europe suggest Comaneci’s safe and successful performance in the mechanical dilation of intracranial vasospastic vessels. Mechanical dilation was successful in almost all cases and was typically accompanied by significant neurological improvement. I believe that this procedure can meaningfully improve the patient outcomes of this severe disease.”