ROBIOPSY project
AI and Robotics for Prostate Biopsy.
Targeted focal therapy in prostate biopsy
With 1.3 million new cases worldwide, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men.
As for any degenerative disease, early diagnosis is crucial to improve patients’ quality of life and reduce the mortality rate, which amounts to 350,000 deaths each year.
When prostate cancer is suspected, diagnosis must be confirmed by a biopsy and subsequent histological analysis. However, biopsy is far from being accurate, as its mostly manual nature causes a significant diagnostic error that may exceed 25%.
The integration of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence is a promising approach to compensate these shortcomings. In the past 20 years, robotic devices have made significant progress in surgical applications, as they allow doctors to perform complex procedures with more precision, safety, repeatability, and control. In several applications, robotics has standardized the level of interventions, allowing every doctor to operate with the highest quality and performance.
THE PROJECT
A new robotic device for prostate cancer biopsy
ROBIOPSY is funded by the European Innovation Council (EIC) and SMEs Executive Agency.
The focus of the project will be on the engineering of the current laboratory prototype, and on the accurate analysis of the business case of prostate cancer diagnosis. We will address the results of the pre-clinical tests, meet the strict medical certification regulations, and analyse the Health economics implications of our solution.
Key features
ROBIOPSY will effectively address the main causes of diagnostic errors in prostate cancer, supporting the medical personnel and providing a better treatment for the patient.
standardized
More precision, safety, repeatability, and control thanks to the AI.
user-oriented
Easy design that shortens the procedure learning curve of the medical personnel.
PRECISE
Target identification and positioning error drastically lowered.
A paradigm shift in biopsy procedures
The power of AI and robotics will be available to urologists worldwide turning a subjective and operator-dependent procedure into a safer, more accurate and standardized diagnostic tool, as it happened for breast cancer.
THE PROTOTYPE
A single cart holding the robotic needle positioner and housing all the electronic components
The ROBIOPSY project aims at evolving the robotic device for prostate cancer biopsy demonstrated during the ERC-PoC PROST into a product prototype that will be ready for clinical trials.
A multi-centric study will collect data for automatic prostate segmentation and lesion identification.
In parallel to the technical development, the project will analyse the business case of prostate biopsy in selected European Countries, and the time/cost reduction due to the new device.
Partners
The consortium is composed by universities, research centers, companies and incubators that will lead the current prototype in the market of medical devices.
Project Coordinator
Prof. Riccardo Muradore
Università degli studi di Verona
Via dell’artigliere, 8 Verona (VR)
37129 – Italy
Starting date: 1 May 2023
Duration: 36 Months
Funding: ~ 2,5 M€
Email: info@robiopsy-project.eu
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This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreement N° 101112739