The goal of this project is to technically and clinically advance software-based treatment in percutaneous image-guided thermal ablation of parenchymal tumors. The results presented here were developed in a close cooperation between clinicians of the University Hospital Heidelberg (clinical contact: [Prof. Dr. Christof Sommer][1]) and computer scientists of the Ulm University of Applied Sciences (technical contact: [Prof. Dr. Alfred Franz][2]).
Software assistance for thermal ablation can include planning, simulation, implementation and control of the ablation process. The research presented on this page focuses on the planning of multiple overlapping ablation zones for the treatment of larger tumors, typically with microwave ablation techniques. Furthermore, work has also been done on the geometric evaluation of ablations, which is presented on the page linked [here][3].
This page contains research prototypes together with example data of renal tumors, while technical details of the approach and the performed studies are described in the following publications:
1. Ahmed et al. - Planning of Spherical Volumes for Treating Renal Tumors by Thermal Ablation with Tissue Shrinkage Estimation. Bildverarbeitung für die Medizin 2023. (Link: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-658-41657-7_14)
2. Sommer et al. - A closer look at tissue shrinkage during thermal ablation in the context of a software-based treatment planning. European Conference on Interventional Oncology - ECIO 2023 Book of Abstracts (Link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00270-023-03414-0)
3. Sommer et al. - A new planning software for the definition of optimal overlapping ablation zones: The geometrical approach with implementation of Ulm-Heidelberg-Uncertainty-principles (UHUs). European Conference on Interventional Oncology - ECIO 2022 - Abstract Book: p55
(Link: https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00270-022-03133-y.pdf)
4. Franz et al. - An open-source tool for automated planning of overlapping ablation zones for percutaneous renal tumor treatment. Bildverarbeitung für die Medizin 2020. (preprint available on arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.09966 , software demonstration on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AssunPnxgio)
5. Sommer et al. - Vorstellung einer Planungssoftware (Pre-Alpha-Stadium) zur automatischen Definition optimal überlappender EinzelAblationsZonen (opt-über-EAZs) für die perkutane Thermoablation. Fortschr Röntgenstr 2019; 191(S 01): p80
(Link: https://www.thieme-connect.com/products/ejournals/abstract/10.1055/s-0037-1682237)
5. Sommer et al. - A planning software (pre-alpha-stage) for automated calculation and visualization of optimized overlapping ablation zones for percutaneous thermal ablation of large tumors. European Conference on Interventional Oncology - ECIO 2019 - Abstract Book: p42-43
(Link: https://cslide.ctimeetingtech.com/global_storage/media/content/ecio2019/ECIO_2019_Abstracts_and_Author_Index.pdf)
The software prototypes are based on the open source Medical Imaging Interaction Toolkit (MITK, www.mitk.org). The experimental source code of the ongoing project is available on a MITK fork at github (https://github.com/Alfred-Franz/MITK):
- Tag [AblationPlanning-preAlpha-v2.0-BVM2020][4]: Version used for experiments for BVM 2020
- Tag [AblationPlanning-preAlpha-v3.1][5]: Version used for experiments for EICO 2022
- Tag [AblationPlanning-preAlpha-v4.3][6]: Version used for BVM 2023 and EICO 2023
[1]: https://de.linkedin.com/in/prof-dr-med-christof-matthias-sommer-5836b435?trk=public_profile_browsemap
[2]: http://www.hs-ulm.de/franz
[3]: https://www.mitk.org/wiki/Geometric_evaluation_of_ablations
[4]: https://github.com/Alfred-Franz/MITK/releases/tag/AblationPlanning-preAlpha-v2.0-BVM2020 "AblationPlanning-preAlpha-v2.0-BVM2020"
[5]: https://github.com/Alfred-Franz/MITK/releases/tag/AblationPlanning-preAlpha-v3.1 "AblationPlanning-preAlpha-v3.1"
[6]: https://github.com/Alfred-Franz/MITK/releases/tag/AblationPlanning-preAlpha-v4.3 "AblationPlanning-preAlpha-v4.3"
