Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVISInstitute News
Institute Director Prof. Horst Hahn welcomed the guests to the celebration of Fraunhofer MEVIS’ 30th anniversary at Bremen’s Historic Town Hall.
This year, the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS turns 30 – and marked the occasion on September 3 and 4 with several events. At a festive ceremony in Bremen’s Town Hall, representatives from politics, science, and industry honored the institute’s role as pioneer of digital medicine and driving force for the healthcare of tomorrow. At an international symposium, renowned experts offered insights into the future of medicine. Afterwards, the institute opened its doors to the public: during an Open House, Fraunhofer MEVIS researchers showcased their current projects through numerous, partly interactive demos.
The history of the research center began in the 1990s with an unusual idea by its founder and long-standing director, Prof. Heinz-Otto Peitgen: drawing on mathematics and computer science to advance medical care, for example by making surgeries more precise and less invasive. “It was an adventure, a gamble without precedent,” Peitgen recalled during the ceremony at the Town Hall. “I was naïve, I had no idea what it meant to interfere in medicine.”
The first project used methods of fractal geometry to improve planning for liver surgeries. Working closely with radiologist Prof. Klaus Jochen Klose in Marburg, the team developed dedicated software for liver surgery planning. The breakthrough came in the early 2000s, when Japanese surgeon Prof. Koichi Tanaka – then the world’s leading specialist in living donor liver transplantation – adopted the Bremen technology. “Without those early steps,” said Peitgen, “Fraunhofer MEVIS would not exist today.”
Recognition from Politics and Industry
Today, the institute is established internationally. “Fraunhofer MEVIS is a cornerstone of Bremen’s scientific landscape and a true key player when it comes to applying artificial intelligence in healthcare and intelligent cancer therapy,” said Bremen’s mayor Andreas Bovenschulte in a video message. “MEVIS can rightfully be proud of pioneering digital medicine for 30 years.”
“The institute serves as an interface between medicine and computer science,” emphasized Dr. Sandra Krey, member of the executive board of the Fraunhofer Society. “Its work is not only technologically sophisticated but also of immense social importance.” And: “What sets Fraunhofer MEVIS apart is its special ability to connect medicine, technology, and computer science,” said Prof. Christiane Kuhl, president of the German Radiological Society. “This bridge is especially important for radiology.”
The close partnership with the University of Bremen was highlighted by rector Prof. Jutta Günther. She stressed that digital medicine is a key topic in the excellence strategy of Bremen’s universities. And: “For many people today, it makes a difference whetherFraunhofer MEVIS research existed or not.” Industry has also benefited from cooperation with the institute for many years. Walter Märzendorfer, long-time manager at Siemens Healthineers, recalled the joint advancement of mammography technology: “Suddenly we had an academic institute wanting to co-develop. That was something entirely new, but it proved to be a success.” Fraunhofer MEVIS never understood itself as a research facility only but also as an innovation driver, as André Grobien, president of the Bremen Chamber of Commerce, underlined: “Fraunhofer MEVIS has paved the way for an outstanding start-up culture in Bremen. It has been instrumental in making Bremen an attractive location for start-ups.” Through spin-offs such as MeVis Medical Solutions AG and Techsomed, more than 100 jobs have been created in Bremen to date.
A Critical Look at the Healthcare System
But the anniversary celebration also raised critical questions. Prof. Gerhard Hindricks, director of cardiology at the German Heart Center of Charité, criticized excessive focus on “repair medicine” in the German healthcare system and its neglect of prevention and education. “Digitalization is the greatest lever in history to make medicine better,” Hindricks said. “Among other things, it offers the chance to provide fairer access to medicine in underserved regions.” If granted one wish, he would introduce a compulsory subject “Health” in schools, so that the foundations for a healthy life are laid early on.
In addition to digitalization, Prof. Horst Hahn, director of Fraunhofer MEVIS, sees major potential in the use of powerful AI products: “AI is a tool that can, for example, make treatment progress measurable in detail – which offers exciting prospects.” This could help identify and stop unnecessary treatments earlier – benefiting patients and relieving overburdened health care systems.
AI as Enabler?
The second event day focused on the future: International experts discussed the roles AI, big data, and new, improved imaging techniques will play in the coming years at a symposium held at the institute building – also known as the Workshop of Digital Medicine. “So far, AI in radiology has mainly been used for individual, limited tasks, such as prioritization of patient exams with potentially critical findings and increasingly also for quantification of imaging biomarkers,” said Prof. Christoph Wald of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, USA, who also serves as Informatics Commission Chair and Vice Chair of the Board of Chancellors of the American College of Radiology For example, AI can determine the thickness of the cerebral cortex or assess the degree of lung disease – tasks which could not otherwise be included in routine workflow by radiologists due to complexity and time constraints.
He discussed the impending arrival on the scene of so-called multi-modal foundation models capable of automatically generating draft reports from imaging data. However: “Qualified end-user humans must remain in the loop and bear responsibility for the combined practice of medicine,” Wald stressed. “For patients, it is crucial that a trained and trusted physician makes or validates the actionable diagnosis.” AI will make radiology operations more efficient, for example by potentially identifying negative exams one day, and thereby focusing radiologists’ efforts on complex cases. In addition, AI systems could optimize workflows and communication – from appointment scheduling to equipment utilization to patient flow. Wald: “This way we can reduce access barriers and shorten waiting times.” An area of particular interest is the potential for AI to assist radiologists with information management, such as summarization of EHR information, and contextual application of appropriate clinical guidelines and classification systems when interpreting cases.
Making Mammography Screening More Efficient
Prof. Nico Karssemeijer of Radboud University Nijmegen showed how AI is revolutionizing mammography screening. Currently, in many countries, mammograms are independently reviewed by two specialists to ensure accuracy. AI could take over part of this task and replace the double reading. “This relieves specialists and at the same time improves quality, with fewer false alarms and more detected tumors,” said Karssemeijer. Moreover, learning algorithms promise personalized early detection: women at higher risk could be examined more intensively, while others would need mammograms less frequently. New methods such as contrast-enhanced mammography or breast MRI could thus be deployed more selectively and efficiently.
By contrast, there is still no nationwide screening program for prostate cancer diagnosis. The widely used PSA test can indicate a tumor but, due to its inaccuracy, often leads to overdiagnosis and unnecessary interventions. This is where AI comes in: in combination with MRI, it can drastically reduce misdiagnoses and unnecessary biopsies. “If we precede PSA tests with an AI risk prediction, we can cut unnecessary biopsies by around 40 percent,” said Prof. Martin Eklund from Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. “And with the use of MR scanners and AI tools, the number of overdiagnoses can be reduced by almost 70 percent – these are fantastic numbers.” In the long term, AI systems could directly predict which therapy is best suited for a patient. This would reduce overtreatment and side effects and improve patients’ quality of life.
Insights for the Public
AI algorithms also advance medicine in liver cancer care. For liver surgery, AI generates 3D models that visualize vessels, tumors, and organ structures. This allows surgeries to be planned precisely and quickly. “With AI support, we can complete processes that previously took hours in a fraction of the time,” said Prof. Andrea Schenk, deputy director of Fraunhofer MEVIS. “This enables surgeries that were previously not possible.” She envisions AI systems that not only accompany patients for a brief moment in time but map the entire course of a disease. The goal is to predict therapies, monitor treatment progress, and automatically identify biomarkers. “One challenge, especially in Germany, is access to data,” Schenk noted. “In many hospitals, data are not available in digital or structured formats – this remains a problem.”
At the Open House on Thursday afternoon, the public was able to experience Fraunhofer MEVIS research firsthand – for example, through a presentation by Prof. Anja Hennemuth. She demonstrated an interactive platform designed to support people facing heart surgery. The AI-powered system runs conveniently on a tablet. With a slider, users can simulate reduced body weight or lower blood pressure. The device then shows how much these measures decrease their individual surgical risk – motivating people to adopt healthier habits before surgery. “What’s special about it is: it’s interactive,” Hennemuth explained. “With the help of their ‘digital twin,’ patients immediately see how they can influence their own risk.”
Links
Press Information – Three Decades of Digital Medicine from Bremen
Podcast – 30 Years Fraunhofer MEVIS – Thinking medicine digitally
Institute Director Horst Hahn talks about the beginnings, successes and future of Fraunhofer MEVIS.
Buten un binnen – 30 Years Fraunhofer MEVIS (German only)
Weser-Kurier Interview with Heinz-Otto Peitgen (German only; paywall)