The research objectives of the Centre will be achieved by structuring the activities in five workpackages (WPs), which individuate five research themes:
1. Surgical applications of Computer-Assisted Technologies
2. Image-based diagnostics and surgical planning
3. Augmented-reality systems and tools for intra-operative assistance
4. Novel techniques for education in surgery
5. Technical-Economic models for the assessment of new technologies in surgery
The division of activities into 5 WP takes into account the previously described strategic approach and concentrates the interdisciplinary competences of the partners into the same WP. The inter-relationship between the WPs is pointed out in Figure 4.
Figure 4 - The five workpackages and their cross-connections
In the following, each WP is briefly described, highlighting the required competences and the inter-dependencies:
- Surgical applications of the Computer-Assisted Technologies
- Competences: surgery, engineering.
- Description: definition of functional specifications and techniques of CAS systems for particular surgery applications; testing and assessment of developed CAS systems.
- Interdependecies: starts from surgical application and from surgeons needs, generates the functional specifications of potential systems (for surgery interventions or training) to be implemented (possibly after the evaluation of the economists), evaluates clinically the realized systems and other commercial systems, transfers to the economists the experimental results.
- Image-based diagnostics and surgical planning
- Competences: radiology and computer science.
- Description: from patient to images, segmentation, multimodal registration, 3D rigid and deformable models, anatomical atlases, interactive rendering, image-guidance, and planning.
- Interdependecies: receives functional specifications, generates generic algorithms and numerical methods and interfaces them to be used in particular applications.
- Augmented-reality systems and tools for intra-operative assistance
- Competences: electronic, mechanical, and computer science engineering
- Description: realization of integrated systems for diagnosis, image-guided navigation, programmable smart devices, surgical simulation
- Interdependencies: starting from specifications of defined applications, build the system architecture, identify the components, provide technical specification for basic research, assemble components and fabricate integrated systems.
- Novel techniques for education in surgery
- Competences: surgery, education, and multimedia.
- Description: identification of new educational routes, identification of innovative pedagogic supports (multimedia, internet and simulation), formalization and realization of residential and faculty courses for traditional surgery and CAS
- Interdependencies: receives indications on the contents and skills to be trained and tested from clinicians, defines technical specifications of the simulators.
- Technical-Economic models for the assessment of new technologies in surgery
- Competences: business economy, marketing and cost management
- Description: analysis of birth of innovation in CAS, model definition for cost-benefit analysis of new surgical technology and procedures, definition of models for cost assessment of new technologies, evaluate the impact of any technological innovation in surgery:
- Interdependencies: support for identification of clinical and market needs; identification of commercial exploitability, clinical and social impact of the novel developed surgical technology.
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