Slovenian Society for Medical and Biological EngineeringIn Slovenia, biomedical engineering has a long-standing tradition. We first became affiliated to the IFMBE as a part of the Yugoslav Society for Medical and Biological Engineering. In 1986 we established the Slovenian society and became affiliated to the IFMBE for the second time in 1993. In the past we have organised or co-organised a number of international conferences, the most important of them being:
The Slovenian Society has a stable membership of over 100 members (Slovenia has two million inhabitants). We publish our newsletter four times a year and it covers various topics of interest to our members. It features regular topics such as clinical engineering, student corner, new projects and product news, reports from meetings and conferences and laboratory presentations. In addition, it also includes abstracts from Diploma, Master and Doctoral Thesis from this area, a calendar of events and 'in case you missed it…' sections. The newsletter has been has been published since 1986. In the near future, emphasised activities will include clinical engineering development and promotion, recruitment of new (young) members, and international co-operation and visibility. At the same time our present activities remain important and viable. The following shows some examples of biomedical engineering research in Slovenia: Functional electrical stimulationRestoration of reciprocal walking has been achieved in paraplegic persons by using only four channels of functional electrical stimulation (FES) realised through the simplest possible hardware for clinical and chronic use. Two stimulation channels are delivered to both knee extensors while the other two channels elicit the flexion reflex by stimulating both peroneal nerves. This can be considered as a minimal pattern of FES walking since reciprocal ambulation cannot be realised by a lesser number of stimulation channels. It is understandable that such a minimal walking pattern has several limitations, but, realistically, there are many practical advantages including simplicity, low cost, voluntary controllability and short donning and doffing time. Particularly advantageous is the voluntary control exerted by the patient who is synthesising the timing and performance of gait events. At any moment he or she is able to act according to their decision. This approach is accepted and utilised at many clinics throughout the world. The simple, surface electrode, four-channel FES system has been applied to more than 100 paraplegic persons in the Ljubljana Rehabilitation Centre during the last 10 years. Contact person: Dr. Tadej Bajd (bajd@robo.fe.uni-lj.si) Knowledge based approach to medical image processingThe aim of the research is to develop a system for computer interpretation and integration of medical images. An explicit anatomical model, as well as other domain knowledge, is used to facilitate the feature extraction and fusion of images from different modalities. We are currently developing a medical image understanding system specifically for interpreting and labelling vessels in cerebral angiograms in order to construct a 3D model. The role of the system is to accept data from various sources, for example, Magnetic Resonance (MR) images, MR angiograms and x-ray angiograms, and to produce a meaningful description of the imaged object for 3D visualisation. A special graphical environment, Ispline, was developed to visualise the results of the 3D reconstruction and fusion process from different imaging modalities. The system can represent vascular structures using curves, wire frames and solid tubes of different colours. It provides multiple views and dynamic manipulation with interaction constraints based on vascular topology. Contact person: Dr. Tatjana Zrimec (tatjana@robo.fe.uni-lj.si) Modelling and simulation in pharmacokinetics The research work of the group is aimed to quantitatively study the relationship between physico-chemical parameters and parameters describing interactions, transport, stability and the activity of therapeutic agents being incorporated in carrier systems and administered in the biological systems of increasing complexity spanning from physiologic solutions to the specimens of human plasma. The processes under study are subjected to mathematical modelling and computer simulation. The development of compartment, physiologic and hybrid models which assume different mechanisms such as diffusion, convection and adhesion is achieved by the use of both analogue-hybrid and digital computer. In the latter case we apply area-oriented tools PCNONLIN and SAAM II and general tools SIMULINK and SIMCOS. Furthermore, different methods of artificial intelligence (fuzzy logic, genetic algorithms, and artificial neural network) are used in combination with compartment and physiologically based models. Contact person: Dr. Rihard Karba (rihard.karba@fe.uni-lj.si) Intelligent analysis of medical dataThe research is focused on the development of new and improved existing computer methods for the analysis of clinical bases and synthesis of diagnostic and prognostic rules from descriptions of past solved cases. Special emphasis is given to the applications on machine-learning methods on data sets of diagnostic and prognostic problem domains in medicine. The applications that are currently being investigated will contribute to a better understanding of medical problems addressed such as clinically localised prostate cancer, neurophysiological investigations, diagnosis of ischemic heart disease, anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, sports injuries, outcome prediction after severe head injury, use of functional electrical stimulation orthotic aid after spinal cord injury, identification of diabetic patients with amputation risk, and differential diagnosis of epileptic and non-epileptic seizures. Contact person: Dr. Nada Lavrac (nada.lavrac@ijs.si) Computer analysis and telemonitoring of ECGThe primary research topic is concerned with biomedical computer systems and imaging development and evaluation of recognition algorithms for the accurate detection of transient ischemic events in biomedical data. A standardised international reference-annotated ECG database containing 24-hour ambulatory recordings with a number of transient ischemic and non-ischemic ST events has also been developed. Characterisation of temporal patterns of transient ischemic events and time-frequency representations of diagnostic parameters in ambulatory ECG signals has been carried out. One of the aims of our research is the investigation and assessment of effective methods for monitoring patients affected by cardiovascular diseases, outside the specialised cardiac units, through computer analysis and interpretation of non-invasive biosignal data with the ultimate goal of cardiac telemonitoring via the Internet. Contact person: Dr. Franci Jager (franc@manca.fri.uni-lj.si) Medical image analysisThe information content of biomedical images is the key to understanding the normal and disease conditions in many medical disciplines. In clinical practice, it is common to relate information contained in several images of the same scene with the aim to detect changes that have occurred over a period of time. The changes are then used to evaluate the progress of disease and/or treatment. A difference image obtained by subtracting two images is often used to facilitate the detection of changes. We are investigating various 2D registration techniques and developing novel procedures to register sequences of monomodal images, which, potentially, might be extended to register 3D multimodal images. We also study and develop automatic segmentation procedures, which aim at facilitating the segmentation of various anatomical objects in a variety of applications by providing powerful and intelligent assistance to the clinical user. Contact person: Dr. Franjo Pernuš (franjo.pernus@fe.uni-lj.si) The delivery of short and intense electric pulses induces transient and reversible changes in the plasma membrane. It becomes permeable to a number of hydrophilic molecules that are otherwise unable to diffuse through it. Many chemotherapeutic drugs used in cancer therapy have poor access into the tumour cells, therefore electro-permeabilisation offers an approach for enhanced drug delivery into the cells. It was shown that in vitro cytotoxicity of some chemotherapeutic drugs was increased several-fold by exposing cells to short intense electric pulses. Tissues can also be electro-permeabilised and thus the anti-tumour effectiveness of chemotherapeutic drugs potentiated by increasing drug delivery into the cells. This novel approach was termed electrochemotherapy. We tested electrochemotherapy with bleomycin and cisplatin in mice and observed increased anti-tumour effectiveness. Cures were obtained in different murine tumour models. The first clinical trials of electrochemotherapy have been already performed on cutaneous and subcutaneous tumours with high rate of complete responses. In current clinical trials which are in progress head and neck carcinoma permeation nodules, melanomas, basal cell carcinomas and Kaposi skin cancers are being treated. Contact person: Dr. Damijan Miklavcic(damijan@svarun.fe.uni-lj.si) Electrical wound healingIn the last decade a multi-centre study has been conducted showing with high statistical significance that healing of chronic ulcers such as pressure sores, diabetic ulcers, and chronic posttraumatic wounds, can be enhanced by daily local application of pulsed, as well as direct electric current. Pulsed current stimulation has been found to be clinically easily applicable and is currently employed as routine therapeutic method for treatment of different types of ischemic chronic wounds in clinical and rehabilitation institutions in Slovenia. Our scientific interest is now oriented towards the basic physiological mechanisms through which electric currents/fields accelerate wound healing. Analyses of endogenous growth factors, multifunctional regulatory molecules found in the wound fluid, enable insight into the healing process and contribute to the explanation of observed beneficial effects of electric stimulation. Near infrared spectroscopy is used for detection of tissue oxygenation changes due to electrical stimulation. Contact person: Dr. Renata Karba (renata.karba@mzt.si) Ljubljana FES technology for clinical applicationsSince 1973 the Biocybernetic Group of 'Jozef Stefan' Institute has been developing surface and implantable functional electrical stimulators. This was based on pioneering work of Prof. Dr. Lojze Vodovnik in the early seventies, when the Ljubljana FES group was established. The mission of this technological project has been to develop 6-channel, 2-channel and single channel stimulators, that would meet the demands of FES based rehabilitation programs during the hospitalisation period and to support locomotion of paretic and paraparetic patients during activities of daily living. As a result of this continuous effort, nowadays in the Rehabilitation Institute of the Republic of Slovenia, in 80% of all hospitalised patients having hemiplegia, head-trauma, multiplesclerosis and CP children, FES is a part of routine clinical practice. During hospitalisation 1-channel stimulation is used in 40% of patients, 2-channel in 50% and multiple channel stimulation in 10% of patients. The most successful are peroneal stimulators for correction of drop-foot in plegic and paretic patients: MIKROFES version with surface electrodes and IPPO with implantible ones, ALT-2, a dual stimulator is designed for muscle training, standing and stepping of paraplegic and paraparetic patients. Each patient needs two devices. The DECUS stimulators have been developed for quick healing of pressure sores (decubitus), ulcuses and vascular wounds. There are several versions of Neurobol (TENS) stimulators for pain relieve. To support verticalisation and innicialisation of gait in bed ridden stroke patients there are 6-channel and 2-channel stimulators. Specialised equipment in gait laboratory enable the measurement of biomechanical parameters relevant for combined quantitative/qualitative evaluation of gait and other functional movements. Contact person: Dr. Uroš Stanic (uros.stanic@ijs.si) For more information: Slovenian Society for Medical and Biological Engineering Faculty of Electrical Engineering, University of Ljubljana Trcaška 25, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia dmbts@fe.uni-lj.si President: Dr. Tadej Bajd Tel:+386 61 1768 236, Fax: +386 61 1264 630, E-mail: bajd@robo.fe.uni-lj.si or damijan@svarun.fe.uni-lj.si Secretary General: Dr. Damijan Miklavcic, Tel: + 386 61 1768 456, Fax: + 386 61 1264 658 | ||