Augmented reality (AR) with segmented patient-individual 3D organ models is increasingly used in the surgical environment, e.g. in clinical training, patient education, or to enrich the intraoperative view of a real situation with additional information and thus make surgical interventions safer and their planning more effective. The aim of the AHrEZ project is therefore to develop a demonstrator for a multi-user application in which the individual work steps, from segmentation to placement of the 3D organ model in situ, are automated and seamless to the greatest possible extent. This is important in order to achieve a high level of acceptance and low workload for the users. For the University Hospital for Visceral Surgery, these aspects of human-technology interaction are therefore of particular importance.

The project started on 01.10.2022. Further information will follow here shortly.

The aim of the LAOLA project is to design and implement a speech therapy app to support the therapy of voice disorders. The app provides interactive biofeedback training for patients using digital real-time analyses of visual (analysis of mouth movements, joint point analysis) and auditory aspects (voice recognition). The LAOLA app is a further development of the experimental research app Oldenburger Logopädie App (OLA).

The University Clinic for Visceral Surgery will evaluate the use of the LAOLA app with patients and therapists in the project. The app will be used in speech therapy and examined for accuracy of the sensors, real-time ability of the speech therapy exercises, guidance and motivation of the patients as well as user-friendliness and human-technology interaction. In addition, the University Department of Visceral Surgery supports the project partners of the overall project in the user-centred development and is in charge of the preparation of ethics applications.

The project started on 01.08.2022. Further information will follow here shortly.

Communication and information exchange in the operating theatre take place in a complex environment under the influence of man-machine interactions with increasing performance compression. A multitude of information from patient records, medical devices and people present in the operating theatre must be retrieved, monitored, documented and communicated in parallel - all under stress, multitasking and difficult acoustic conditions.

METIOR addresses these challenges of complex assistive human-machine interaction, communication and extensive documentation. The METIOR vision is error-free and barrier-free speech communication between all participants and a working environment in which further relevant information (e.g. from machines and other IT/ HIS systems) can be provided via user-oriented and needs-based speech assistance, as well as being entered by the participants.

In the sub-project of the University Clinic for Visceral Surgery, the development process of the demonstrators is to be accompanied from a clinical point of view and the overall system is to be tested in an iterative evaluation study in a simulation operating theatre by measuring workplace stress using standardised cognitive tests and mobile EEG measurements.

Within the framework of the project, a smartphone app for patient education and personal information in the home environment for patients with planned colorectal cancer surgery is to be developed and evaluated. The doctors will use the app to improve doctor-patient communication in conjunction with CT or MRI images that have been processed in a patient-oriented and patient-specific manner by illustrating the conservative and/or surgical clinical treatment on the patient's body based on the anatomical relationships. By means of visualisation, the app should help patients to better assess the extent of the disease and the therapeutic approach as well as potential treatment risks.

In addition, the process is to be accompanied by an evaluation of the extent to which patients are able to grasp the extended possibilities of new digital technologies and then accept them or are overwhelmed by them. This has been little or not at all researched so far. Within the framework of a feasibility study at the end of the project, different forms of visualisation for patient education with and without an app will be compared.

In the future, additional telemedicine features, such as enabling structured follow-up care, can be developed.

The project started in spring 2022. More information will follow here shortly.

The aim of the project is the prototypical implementation of a mobile data acquisition and analysis system for the individual non-invasive early detection of tumours and other diseases of the gastrointestinal tract through acoustic longitudinal measurements of the abdomen.

Based on recordings from an acoustic database to be created, it is to be tested whether it is possible to identify symptom-specific sounds in the gastrointestinal tract by means of algorithms to be developed. In the future, sounds will be recorded using a mobile sensor system and analysed using methods from the field of machine learning in order to automatically and continuously detect diseases of the gastrointestinal tract.

In view of the increasingly poor (specialist) medical care in rural areas and border regions and the associated lack of care close to home, such a mobile and, above all, non-invasive data acquisition system can make screening, long-term monitoring and preventive early detection of gastrointestinal diseases more effective and reduce the time patients need to recognise possible health problems.

The project will start in autumn 2022. More information will follow here shortly.

The potential of virtual reality (VR) technology as an educational tool in schools and universities is increasingly being explored. In this context, we have developed the prototype of a virtual anatomy atlas for anatomical and surgical education and training. In the future, this virtual anatomy atlas will be further developed into a learning tool for students at our university and potentially also in surgical further education as part of further research projects. A video of the current version of the atlas is accessible via the QR code. Together with our project partners from Prof. Gabriel Zachmann's CGVR working group at the University of Bremen, this atlas is constantly being expanded.

VIVATOP stands for „Versatile Immersive Virtual and Augmented Tangible OR”

You can find more information about this project here.

In SmartOT, a modern operating theatre lighting system and its control system were developed.

You can find more information about the project here.

Within the framework of a Randomised Controlled Trial, a newly developed physiotherapy programme was compared with standardised physiotherapy and the influence of this therapy on quality of life and nutritional status after tumour-related pancreas resection was investigated. The study was funded by the Research Pool of Faculty VI of the University of Oldenburg. Several publications have appeared on it (1, 2, 3).

It is still unclear how extensive voice changes are after thyroid surgery. In cooperation with various project partners, the voice of patients before and after thyroid surgery will therefore be examined. In addition, an application will be developed with which patients can specifically train various aspects of their voice after surgery. The study is funded by the research pool of Faculty VI of the University of Oldenburg. The BMBF project LAOLA emerged from this university project.

BRAF mutation is the most common genetic alteration in patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma. Some studies show that the detection of a BRAF mutation as a marker of a more aggressive tumour is associated with higher recurrence probability and lymph node metastases. It is still unclear whether a more extensive surgical strategy should be pursued in the case of preoperative mutation detection in fine needle aspiration. This was tested in the BRAF study. The study was funded by the Research Pool of Faculty VI of the University of Oldenburg.

The aim is to investigate which spatial perception processes influence laparoscopic skills, whether and how these perception processes can be learned, and how the learning of laparoscopic skills can be supported. In this project, we provide the medical expertise and the data for the project partners at the University of Bremen.

Training on anatomy and certain surgical techniques can only take place in the context of the operations concerned. However, it is unclear whether teaching in the operating theatre leads to an increased workload for the responsible surgeons, and to what extent structured teaching has an effect on the learning success of the students. Both were investigated in this study.