Tuttlingen – The practical examples gave a foretaste of what simulation and data analytics can still do for medical technology: The symposium “Data instead of guessing” gave the more than 80 participants a number of insights and approaches for a day, with the digital foresight real added value, among other things development and individualized therapies.
This comparison was unavoidable: Virtual development work has long been a must in the automotive industry. "Through simulation, technical goals and product properties can be achieved faster and more efficiently," Christoph Gümbel (future matters AG) formulated a finding from vehicle construction. Andreas Wierse, Managing Director of Sicos BW GmbH, contributed a second: "Even the big ones don't do everything themselves, but have partners." High-tech in medical technology. Prof. Dr. Martin Haimerl (Furtwangen University) gave insights into possible fields of application; from bending tests to cleaning simulation, each in their own way to optimize medical devices before they go into production.
Several practical examples provided information that the technology has already arrived in the industry. Frank Reinauer from the KLS Martin Group reported how simulation helps, for example, in the case of palatal expansion, to determine patient-specific cutting templates for surgeons and the optimal positioning of the distractor in order to ultimately achieve the desired aesthetic symmetry with as little trauma as possible. "Cars always look the same, people don't," he said, explaining the main difference between the sectors - and the great potential of simulation to be able to incorporate the most individual circumstances into the calculation. Aesculap AG proceeds in a similar way with knee endoprosthetics. For many years, implants have always been placed in a straight axis and thus conditions such as knock knees or bowlegs have been ignored. Thanks to biomechanical simulation, adapted solutions are possible - with a significant increase in patient satisfaction, as Prof. Dr. Thomas Grupp reported.
Dr. spanned the arc from the individual to the cohort. medical Urs Schneider (Fraunhofer IPA): "In-silico clinical trials" have the potential, for example, to test the functional testing of implants on a virtual group of people. In order to design the models as realistically as possible, one thing is needed first: a lot of data from the "real" world on which the system can grow. Accordingly, data analytics and artificial intelligence also had their place at the symposium. "Without data, AI development is like dry swimming," said Dr. Stefan Taing (M3i GmbH) to the point. Last but not least, the example of "Smart Vigilance" made it clear that the development goes beyond the operating room: Here, AI helps to simplify the challenge of clinical follow-up observation of medical devices.
The idea for the symposium arose from the vision process for medical technology in south-west Germany in order to promote data generation and use in the industry. Yvonne Glienke, Managing Director of MedicalMountains GmbH, moderated the event and was very impressed by the content: "Simulation and data analytics provide medical technology with great tools, on the one hand to save resources and on the other hand to bring new ideas to the market faster to come.” Basically, we are still at the beginning of what the technologies can achieve. “Cooperation is the key. With our network, we open doors so that manufacturers can achieve their goals together with the right partners,” says Yvonne Glienke. An appeal from Dr. medical Urs Schneider was particularly impressive: companies shouldn't wait for the technology to mature. "She will never be. You have to start today and take the first steps.”
