NEWS

November 2009
VECTOR partner from Barcelona receives Best Paper Award for their paper on the development of an integrated circuit enabling active locomotion in capsular endoscopy
O. Alonso, L. Freixas and A. Dieguez from the Department of Electronics at the University of Barcelona have been conferred the Best Paper Award at the Conference on Design of Circuits and Integrated Systems (DCIS) 2009. Angel Dieguez and his team have developed and presented an integrated circuit particularly suited for driving a robotic capsular endoscope. The DCIS'09 Steering Committee selected their paper entitled ‘Enabling Active Locomotion in Capsular Endoscopy’ in recognition of the ‘research paper quality, originality and significance’. The XXIV DCIS Conference 2009 was held in Zaragoza, Spain.

October 2009
Technology Award 2009 for outstanding development goes to the VECTOR Consortium – SMIT conference 2009, Sinaia, Romania,
7-9 October 2009
At their 21st Conference in Sinaia, Romania, the Society for Medical Innovation and Technology presented the VECTOR Consortium with the Technology Award 2009 for outstanding development of the Versatile Endoscopic Capsule for Gastrointestinal Tumor Recognition and Therapy.
Please click here to view the deed


September 2009
VECTOR project takes centre stage in reports and interviews of Ralf Krauter with Marc Schurr in Munich at the World Congress of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering on 09.09.09
Deutschlandfunk – Forschung Aktuell
Ferngesteuert durch den Dickdarm – Roboter im Pillenformat sollen Darmspiegelungen verbessern.
Through the colon by remote control – Pill-sized robots to improve colonoscopy
http://www.dradio.de/dlf/sendungen/forschak/1032031/
Colonosopy is particulary recommended for patients aged over 50 because colon cancers can thus be detected in early stages. Yet, since this is quite painful only few undergo this inspection. In order to alter this, researchers are eager for a remote-controlled endoscopy robot solution.

Deutschlandradio Kultur – Radiofeuilleton: Elektronische Welten
Hightech im Dienste des Patienten – Hightech to serve the patients
http://www.dradio.de/dkultur/sendungen/ewelten/1033674/
Intelligent technology shall help doctors to inspect colons for colon cancer, one of the most frequent form of cancer. Regular colonoscopy screening is recommended to all persons over 50 years of age, however, since this procedure is painful and inconvenient, hardly anybody is ready to have it done without good cause.

September 2009
Innovative approach to active locomotion for capsular endoscopy in the gastric district
In their article Dr. Giuseppe Tortora and colleagues report about in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo experiments on tridimensional locomotion of capsules inside the stomach. The trials were conducted in the frame of the EU VECTOR project:
Conclusion: The development of a wireless device for active capsular endoscopy in the stomach holds great promise for improving patient comfort during gastroscopic exams and might thereby increase the number of people undergoing targeted screening programs. The development of such device would pave the way to new perspectives regarding non-invasive diagnostic procedures inside the stomach.

Propeller-based wireless device for active capsular endoscopy in the gastric district

Giuseppe Tortora (1), Pietro Valdastri (2), Ekawahyu Susilo (1, 2), Adrianna. Menciassi (1, 2), Paolo Dario (1, 2), Fabian Rieber (3), Marc Oliver Schurr (3)

(1) CRIM  (Center for Research in Microengineering) Lab, Scuala Superiore Sant’Anna, Pontedera, Pisa, Italy
(2) Italian Institute of Technology Network, Genova, Italy
(3) novineon Healthcare Technology Partners GmbH, Tübingen, Germany

Minimally Invasive Therapy and Allied Technologies, 2009, in press

For further information, please refer to: DOI: 10.1080/13645700903201167

September 2009
Marc O. Schurr, novineon, was invited to give lecture on 'Active robotic capsules for wireless endoscopy' at the World Congress of Medical Physics and Biomedical Engineering in Munich, 09.09.2009
As coordinator of the VECTOR project, in his lecture Marc O. Schurr gave a survey on the objectives of the project, touching on the medical background and the conditions of use and focussing on the basic functions of the VECTOR capsule which are locomotion systems, diagnostic systems (e.g. telemetric ingestible and implantable blood detection sensor for detection of upper GI bleeding, experimental) and therapeutic/biopsy systems.

Please click here to view the presentation

March 2009
VECTOR project presented at 2009 Korea-EU Joint Workshop in Seoul, Korea
The coordinator of the VECTOR project, Prof. Dr. Marc O. Schurr, was invited to present the VECTOR project as an example of EU-Korean joint R&D in the area of microtechnology. The meeting was co-organized by KIST Europe, KOTEF – Korea Industrial Technology Foundation and MKE – Ministry of Knowledge Economy of Korea. Keynotes were delivered by Dr. Dong Wha Kum, the President of KIST, Mr Yong-Geun Kim, the Chairman of KOTEF, Mr Chang-Han Lee, the Director General for Technology Policy at MKE and His Excellency Mr Brian McDonald, the Ambassador of the European Commission to the Republic of Korea. The 2009 Korea-EU Joint Workshop brought together researchers from academia and Korean industry in an effort to deepen the R&D collaboration between Korean and European institutions and companies. The VECTOR project has two consortial partners with Korean background, KIST Europe, the European branch of KIST – Korea Institute of Science and Technology and IMC-Intelligent Microsystem Center of KIST, both funded by the European Commission within FP6.
Marc Schurr highlighted the value of EU-Korea collaboration in the area of medical microtechnology for the VECTOR project.

Please click here to view the presentation
 
December 2008
New success in smart capsule technology: European collaboration yields the first OTSC clip release via telemetric endoscopic capsule
Dr. Pietro Valdastri and his colleagues from the VECTOR consortium report a further successful step in the EU VECTOR project in their article in the journal "Endoscopy":
"This study reports the first successful in vivo surgical experiment using a wireless endoscopic capsule, paving the way to a new generation of capsule devices able to perform both diagnostic and therapeutic tasks."

Wireless therapeutic endoscopic capsule: in vivo experiment

P. Valdastri (1), C. Quaglia (1), E. Susilo (1, 2), A. Menciassi (1, 2), C. N. Ho (3), G. Anhöck (3), M.O. Schurr (3, 4)
1 CRIM (Center for Research in Microengineering) Lab, Scuala Superiore Sant’Anna, Pontedera, Pisa, Italy
2 Italian Institute of Technology Network, Genova, Italy
3 Ovesco AG, Tübingen, Germany
4 IHCI (Institute of Healthcare Industries), Steinbeis University Berlin, Tübingen, Germany
Endoscopy 2008; 40:1-4, in press

October 2008
Tiny medical implant developed in Tuebingen - microtechnologies from the EU project VECTOR facilitate early detection of acute bleeding in the GI tract
Within the EU project VECTOR, novineon Healthcare Technology Partners GmbH from Tuebingen, Germany, has developed a tiny implant for early detection of acute GI bleeding. The researchers realized a prototype of the implant that could reliably detect bleeding inside the digestive tract and immediately trigger an external alert signal.
Acute bleeding in the GI tract is a medical emergency that affects about 50 to 150 per 100,000 persons every year and up to 10 to 30% of them die, depending on the underlying disease. Decisive for a successful treatment is a timely diagnosis, but nowadays, acute GI bleeding can only be detected by delayed clinical symptoms. “By signalling a bleeding as it occurs, this implant can save precious time in a life-threatening situation” says Professor Marc O. Schurr, MD, novineon’s managing director and coordinator of the VECTOR project.

For further information, please refer to the associated press release in "Press & Media"

August 2008
Scientific VECTOR Project session at the 20th International Conference of the SMIT in Vienna, Austria; 28 - 30 August 2008
A special session was organised with the VECTOR project as single issue:
VECTOR: New Frontiers of Capsule Endoscopy
Chair: N. di Lorenzo, M.O. Schurr
New frontiers in capsular endoscopy: active locomotion and therapeutic capabilities of wireless capsules
M.O. Schurr
Implantable optical sensor concept for the detection of gastrointestinal bleeding
S. Schostek, V. Müller, F. Rieber, C. N. Ho, Ch. Rakoschi, G. Anhoeck, M. O. Schurr
Capsule endoscopy of the entire gastrointestinal tract
F. Rieber, V. Tognoni, L. Cenci, S. Schostek, C.N. Ho, N. di Lorenzo, M. O. Schurr
Investigation of porcine tissue properties of gastrointestinal organs for future capsule locomotion mechanism design
C. N. Ho, Ch. Fleisch, S. Schostek, F. Rieber, M. O. Schurr
Computational vision techniques to support active capsule endoscopy
D. Tsakiris
A visionary approach to endoluminal robotics
A. Menciassi, P. Dario

For further information, please refer to: www.smit2008.com

July 2008
Report on 245,000 Screening Colonoscopies in Bavaria, Germany
U. Mansmann et al. analysed the data of 245,263 outpatient colonoscopies done in regular insurance patients (GKV) in Bavaria in 2006. The adoption rate of preventive screening colonoscopy was 1.5% of the target patient population and shows significant geographic variations. This adoption rate can be considered very low. There is no relevant difference in screening adoption rates between men and women. Higher adoption rates were found in the periphery of metropolitan areas, while rural areas had lower adoption rates.

The detection rate of colorectal lesions in symptom-free screening patients was almost 26%. Colonoscopy revealed colorectal carcinoma in 1.3% of the patients. The incidence of complications, in e.g. hemorrhage, bowel perforation or cardio-respiratory problems was very low. The authors conclude that the quality of the colonoscopy screening programme in Bavaria is high. The high detection rate of colorectal adenoma and carcinoma shows the importance of colonoscopy screening. However, the current low adoption rate is diminishing the public health effect of preventive screening.

Source: Dt Ärztebl 2008; 105(24):434-440

Prof. Dr. Marc O. Schurr, Coordinator of the VECTOR Project stated: “The Bavarian colonoscopy quality assurance evaluation shows in a very impressive way the importance of screening colonoscopy for the detection of pre-cancerous lesions and colorectal cancer. Based on the high detection rate the number needed to “screen“ in order to detect one lesion is 12 patients. This underlines the excellent cost-utility ratio of screening colonoscopy. The disappointingly low adoption of colonoscopy screening might be based on the fear of pain and discomfort among patients. We therefore feel encouraged in our mission to develop painless capsular screening endoscopy technologies within the VECTOR Project.“

May 2008
Research and Expectations about Capsule Endoscope Systems in Diagnosis and Therapy
The VECTOR Project presents preliminary results at the pHealth 2008 International on Wearable Micro and Nanosystems for Personalised Health 2008, Valencia, Spain, May 21st 2008.

Prof. Dr. Marc Schurr presents the status of current research and the future potential of capsule endoscope systems with enhanced diagnostic and therapeutic properties.

For further information, please refer to: www.phealth2008.com

April 2008
VECTOR project presented at scientific conferences on oncological and bariatric surgery
Prof. Dr. Marc O. Schurr, coordinator of the VECTOR project, funded by the European Union under IST Contract Number 033970, presented the concept of advanced robotic capsular endoscopy for screening and early diagnosis of gastrointestinal cancers at the conference on Technology in Oncological Surgery: Standard and Novel Procedures, Naples, Italy, April 17-19 2008. The meeting was attended by Italian and international experts in surgical oncology.

Prof. Dr. Nicola Di Lorenzo, project partner in VECTOR, representing the Society for Medical Innovation and Technology (SMIT), gave a lecture on the VECTOR project and its conceptual approach to robotic capsular endoscopy of the upper digestive tract at the 3rd Congress of the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders - European Chapter (IFSO-EC), held in Capri (Italy), April 17-19 2008. The meeting attendance was over 800 surgeons and experts in bariatric surgery from Europe and abroad.

At both meetings the medical concept of using active robotic capsules for inspection of the upper and lower digestive tract was well received by the clinical experts present.

Please click on the links below to view the presentations:

VECTOR Project
Bleeding Sensor

April 2008
First spin-off device technology from the VECTOR project presented at conference on Technology in Oncological Surgery in Naples, Italy
Besides its mission to develop active robotic capsule endoscopes the VECTOR project, funded by the European Union under IST Contract Number 033970, also pursues medical technologies from its portfolio to be used as stand alone spin-off devices outside of a fully integrated capsule.

The telemetric sensor capsule can be ingested for acute diagnostics or can be implanted over a longer period to monitor the site of prior bleeding for relapse.

The device under development and preliminary preclinical experience has been reported by Prof. Dr. Marc O. Schurr, managing director of novineon and coordinator of the VECTOR project at the conference on Technology in Oncological Surgery: Standard and Novel Procedures in Naples, Italy, April 17-19 2008.

Please click here to view the presentation

March 2008
Workshop of the VECTOR project at the University of Turin, Italy
On March 13th and 14th a workshop of the VECTOR project took place at the University of Turin, Italy, hosted by Prof. A. Arezzo, University of Turin, together with the VECTOR partner SMIT - Society for Medical Innovation and Technology.

The meeting took place in the prestigeous auditorium Achille Mario Dogliotti of Turin University Hospital, dedicated to the Italian pioneer to whom most of the introduction of advances in modern surgery in Italy are attributed.

The VECTOR project started almost eighteen months ago in September 2006 and has made excellent progress so far. More than 40 researchers from the different partners of the Consortium attended the meeting. In order to organize the work, the first day was dedicated to discussions in details of current issues in each research area.

On the second day a brief report to the rest of the participants for each working package was obtained. In order to share current VECTOR project results with the medical scientific community, four lectures by representatives of the consortium to officials of Turin University took place at the beginning of the second day, in front of invited audience that attended the meeting and contributing to a fruitful discussion.



Vector meeting lectures agenda

July 2007
International Expert Survey on Future of Capsule Endoscopy
The VECTOR consortium just launched a web-based survey on the future of capsule endoscopy. It focuses on clinical needs and expectations regarding developments in robotic endoscopic capsule technologies for early detection and treatment of digestive cancers.
Questions cover general medical and clinical aspects, patient requirements as well as market and economical issues. The survey results will have a direct impact on the research and development activities of the VECTOR project. Clinicians and researchers in the fields of endoscopy, gastroenterology and surgery are invited to participate.

To participate now, please click here: VECTOR SURVEY

April 2007
First VECTOR Dissemination Meeting on May 11, 2007
The VECTOR project started almost eight months ago in September 2006 and has made excellent progress thus far. In order to share the resulting knowledge, the first dissemination meeting will take place in May. This meeting is going to cover a broad range of topics associated with VECTOR.
For this, speakers from the VECTOR consortium as well as guest speakers from Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Great Britain will attend.
There is going to be a session of talks on “Robotics, Micromachines and Image Guided Therapy” with varied contributions, for example on snake-robots, haptics and telesurgery. A session on bioengineering will feature short presentations on the use of nitinol, cardiac tissue engineering and the state of the art in prosthesis and artificial tissues among other topics. Subsequently, there will be a talk discussing the future of surgery with a focus on biomagnetics.
The afternoon will be dedicated to talks and discussion sessions regarding N.O.T.E.S. (Natural Orifice Transluminal Endoscopic Surgery), one of the most promising developments in the field of endoluminal treatments.
The VECTOR dissemination meeting will be held in Rome on May 11, 2007.

March 2007
"Stronger Sex" Shows Weakness When It Comes to Prevention
Men are not easily motivated to participate in prevention programmes. While about half of all women in Germany take part in cancer screenings, the percentage among men is only 15 percent. "Men often see their body as a kind of tool, a means to an end which has to perform in a certain way. We are offended if we do not function properly and often block out illnessess," says Professor Ernst Pöppel who specializes in brain research.
So it is no wonder that only 8.8 percent of all men eligible take part in colonoscopy screenings; with women it is 10.2 percent. This is all the more alarming as evaluation of screening data shows that men are more often diagnosed with adenoma and carcinoma.
Past years’ experience suggests that men are best motivated by programmes at the workplace. One such campaign last year yielded a participation rate of 62 percent among men – almost twice as much as among women. This success demonstrates that it is indeed possible to make the stronger sex show its strenght when it comes to colon cancer prevention. It just needs some customized programmes.
Source: Felix Burda Foundation

February 2007
German Colon Cancer Screening Off to a Good Start
The latest participation rates for colonoscopy screenings show how much awareness of the issue increased in recent years. More than 1.7 million people in Germany have participated in the colon cancer screening programme introduced in 2002. Ulrich Weigeldt, president of the German NHS doctors’ association, expects a total participation rate of 30 percent by 2012. "In international comparison, this number is above-averrage. It also exceeds the initially expected 20 percent," Weigeldt said.
Yet, Dr. Christa Maar, chairperson of Felix Burda Foundation, insists: "For colon cancer screening to be truly effective, we have to reach a particiation rate of 50 percent within the next ten years."
Colon cancer is the second most common cancer in Germany and has an inheritable tendency. Every year 71,000 people fall ill with it. Over 20,000 due to genetic disposition, often at a younger age. Dr. Angelika Prehn, chairwoman of the Berlin NHS doctors’ association, stresses the issue’s importance: "Do not give cancer a chance. Do make use of free screenings. Colonoscopy is the most effective way of prevention."
Source: Felix Burda Foundation

February 2007
Colon Cancer Screening in Germany
Approximately 30,000 people in Germany die of colon cancer each year; this number is five times as high as that of road casualties. Scientific research shows that 90 percent of those who die of colon cancer could still be alive if the disease, or rather the cancer’s pre-stage would have been identified and treated early on within a screening programme.
Germany is the first country in the European Union to offer a nation-wide colon cancer prevention programme for all patients in their national healthcare system. Insured persons from 49 to 53 can take part in the programme by having a stool sample tested. From 54 years onward, national health insurers bear the costs of a preventive colonoscopy every 10 years.
Source: Berlin-gegen-Darmkrebs

September 2006
Microtechnology for the future of medicine – the operating theatre that travels through the human body: Kick-off for the research project VECTOR
The main objective of the VECTOR project is to develop intelligent capsules using innovations in micro- and nanotechnology. The capsule that will be swallowed by the patient is searching for early-stage cancer in the intestinal tract. The VECTOR project is supported by the European Union as part of the 6th FrameWork Programme for a duration of four years. The consortium coordinated by Prof. Dr. Marc O. Schurr, novineon, includes 18 partners from all over Europe and also the Korean Institute of Science and Technology.