Press Releases

On the monitor, a brain spins slowly and can be examined from every angle. Suddenly, some sections start glowing, first on the side and then the entire back of the head. These spectacular images show which brain areas activate when we speak, see, hear, or touch. The method originated at the Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS in Bremen. It uses modern visualization technology called ‘physically based rendering’ in combination with medical image data and enriched with clinically relevant supplementary information. On October 1, the method will premiere in an exhibit at the AUDIOVERSUM Science Center in Innsbruck, Austria.

Radiation therapy is an established method of cancer treatment. The therapy consists of many treatment sessions and usually lasts for several weeks. During this time, physicians often have to adjust the treatment plan. By doing so tumors can be treated effectively and tissue surrounding the tumor is spared. Within the scope of the recently completed SPARTA project, the Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS in Bremen developed several methods for facilitating and accelerating this adjustment.

Together with Dutch researchers, Fraunhofer MEVIS is starting a project in which computer recognizes suspicious abnormalities in medical image data.

At the Global Social Business Summit in Berlin, Fraunhofer MEVIS will search for ways to employ telemedicine more effectively in the developing world.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft and Max-Planck-Gesellschaft joined for a successful project on fast and easy examination of heart patients.

In recent decades, medicine has undergone a fundamental change. The computer has entered medical practices and clinics. X-ray and ultrasound images are now digitally recorded. Today, MRI and CT scanners deliver three-dimensional images and videos of the inside of the body. The Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS in Bremen has contributed significantly to the field and developed a range of innovative software methods.

Medical research and art sometimes meet at their finest: experts from the Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS in Bremen produced a three-dimensional movie, showing the human heart in full action. The organ beats and pumps, and special techniques visualize the dynamic flow of blood in the vessels.

When screening patients, doctors no longer use just an X-ray unit. Today, an impressive variety of imaging methods is available to provide insights into the human body, each having its own strengths. This variety is what makes the “Image Man” a lively experience for the broad audience.

Together with physicians, other research groups, and industry partners, Fraunhofer MEVIS is developing software to optimize radiation therapy. The fifth clinical workshop to evaluate this software took place in Bremen on February 5 and 6.

Fabian Zöhrer, physicist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS in Bremen, received the GHTC® – the German High Tech Champions Award on December 2nd. The award was bestowed in Chicago at RSNA 2014, the world’s foremost radiology conference, for a software method that can improve early detection and diagnosis of breast cancer.

A software procedure that will accelerate and improve breast cancer diagnostics is ready for the market. Fabian Zöhrer, physicist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS, will receive a distinguished award. In Chicago on December 2nd at RSNA 2014, the world’s largest radiology conference, he will be bestowed the GHTC® – the German High Tech Champions Award.

A memorial in honor of Prof. Bernd Fischer, founder of Fraunhofer MEVIS Project Group Image Registration and director of the Institute of Mathematics and Image Computing will be held at the Universität zu Lübeck.

Nils Papenberg, research scientist at Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS, is receiving one of the most prestigious awards in the field of machine vision. The 36-year-old is accepting the Koenderink award with three colleagues in Zurich on September 8th. It is being given at the European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV), one of the most important conferences in the field.

As part of the ‘Science Year 2014 – The Digital Society,’ the German Informatics Society (GI) has selected 39 men and women who represent a new generation of digital thinkers and doers. These ‘digital brains’ from business, science, and culture show the demands of the future and the digital excellence that Germany has in store. One of these creative brains is Dr. Horst Hahn, professor at Jacobs University Bremen and one of two directors of the Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS in Bremen.

June marks the beginning of the National Cohort (NAKO), a long-term study of 200,000 subjects, the broadest of its kind in Germany to date. Gathering MRI data of up to 30,000 subjects is central to the study. These images help scientists gain valuable insight into the formation and development of diseases.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing MEVIS, headquartered in Bremen, will be under new leadership as of May 1, 2014. Prof. Horst Hahn, who has been the acting director of Fraunhofer MEVIS, will team up with Prof. Ron Kikinis, M.D., a renowned scientist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, using a dual leadership model.

Tumor removal without a scalpel or x-rays is now possible due to a special type of ultrasound. Strong, concentrated ultrasonic waves are directed at the patient's body in such a way that they heat and kill individual cancer cells. A new EU-project wants to transfer this emerging, non-invasive therapy to moving organs, specifically the liver. The Fraunhofer MEVIS Institute for Medical Image Computing Bremen is coordinating "TRANS-FUSIMO".

What happens when chemicals flow through the blood stream into the liver and react with the organ? What if parts of the liver are damaged and medicine cannot be properly metabolized? A new computer simulation can now answer questions such as these in greater detail.

Taking tissue samples can often be a traumatic experience for breast cancer patients. There are also significant costs associated with the procedure when magnetic resonance imaging is used. Fraunhofer scientists working on the MARIUS project are developing a more cost-effective biopsy method that is easier on patients. They will showcase new alternative technologies and techniques combining MR and ultrasound imaging at MEDICA 2013 in Düsseldorf (Hall 10, Booth F05) from November 20 to 23.

Which technological advancements can we expect to see in the field of medical technology? How well can diagnosis and therapy be customized for each patient? And how much automation can medicine handle? To help answer these fundamental questions, the Fraunhofer MEVIS Institute for Medical Image Computing will hold a symposium entitled “Disruptive Innovations in Medicine” on September 4, 2013 at Jacobs University in Bremen. The occasion for the symposium is the farewell of Prof. Heinz-Otto Peitgen, founder and long-time institute director of Fraunhofer MEVIS.

Until now, surgeons have had to memorize the precise location of important blood vessels in organs and where tumors could likely be found and need to be removed. A new app for tablet computers developed by Fraunhofer MEVIS in Bremen could support surgeons in the future and help them reduce the rate of complications during operations. The system has recently been tested for the first time in Germany. On August 15, the surgical team at the Asklepios Klinik Barmbek in Hamburg successfully tested the app during a liver operation.

Every tenth woman is afflicted with breast cancer during her lifetime. The diagnosis and treatment of a patient involves the collaboration of a wide range of specialists. The broad range of software platforms for storage and visualization of medical imaging data used by radiologists, pathologists, oncologists, radiotherapists and surgeons, brings challenges for communication and data transfer between the platforms. Improved extraction and transfer of information between the platforms may support breast cancer diagnosis and therapy planning.

X-rays can provide much more than radiography for diagnosing bone fractures or internal disease. In the form of high-energy photon beams, cancer can be treated by exposing tumors to a strong dose of targeted radiation. This type of radiation therapy is currently one of the most important treatment methods for cancer; about half of all tumor patients are now treated with photon or particle beams. The novel, interdisciplinary SPARTA project commenced on April 1, 2013 to improve this method by using modern software technology to support tumor radiation in a more effective and patient-friendly fashion than existing methods.

Ultrasound can do much more than record images from the body. Clinicians now use ultrasound to treat tumors. Powerful, concentrated ultrasound waves are focused in the patient’s body to heat cancer cells to 60 degrees Celsius, destroying them and leaving healthy tissue largely unharmed. Until now, this ‘focused ultrasound therapy’ has only been approved for a small number of diseases, such as uterine tumors and prostate cancer.

A partnership tracing back ten years between Fraunhofer MEVIS in Bremen and the Kyoto University Hospital laid the foundation for the success of image-guided planning and risk assessment for living donor liver transplantation that has gained current worldwide use as a distant service.

Fraunhofer MEVIS Bids Farewell to Founder and Institute Director Prof. Dr. Heinz-Otto Peitgen on October 1, 2012

To increase patient safety in clinical practice and minimize risks and damage that may arise during surgery, computer support and digital medical imaging are key technologies. Before brain operations, neurosurgeons can now evaluate patient-specific surgical risks, achieve increased safety, and avoid unacceptable risks.

Today, the Fraunhofer Institute for Medical Image Computing (Fraunhofer MEVIS) received its own scanner for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Today, challenging liver surgery is frequently planned and optimized with regard to associated risks with the support of a computer. Based on radiological image data, the liver vessels and tumors are analyzed to produce a patient-individual three-dimensional representation of the liver.