果冻影院

Oxford Heartbeat is helping brain surgeons perform delicate procedures more accurately, ultimately improving outcomes for patients.

The company鈥檚 artificial intelligence (AI)-powered software tool is currently being used by surgeons in hospitals in the UK, Germany and Finland. It allows them to simulate and rehearse the placement of a stent inside a patient鈥檚 blood vessel.

From computer science to brain surgery听

Oxford Heartbeat was founded by Dr Katerina Spranger, who is now CEO of the company. Katerina trained in computer science with a stint in the robotics industry, before focusing on biomedical engineering at the University of Oxford and then 果冻影院 (as Research Associate in the Department of Biomedical Engineering).听

鈥淚 was never satisfied with only doing research and having a paper published and leaving it at that. I wanted to see the impact of the work materialised and the vehicle for that is a startup company,鈥� she says.听

During her time at Oxford, Katerina studied the development of brain aneurysms, which are bulges in blood vessels in the brain, that can potentially burst with catastrophic consequences. They can be treated and prevented by placing a device called a stent (essentially a small metallic tube) within the blood vessel.听

Often working from an incision in the femoral artery in the groin, stent placement is a highly intricate procedure, which calls for great accuracy. Indeed, around 20% of brain stent surgeries are unsuccessful and require further surgical intervention due to poorly fitted stents or other complications.

鈥淏rain surgery is absolutely fascinating,鈥� says Katerina 鈥淚n the brain everything is important and the margin for error is very small. Every little, tiny vessel is important because it might be supplying something vital 鈥� eyesight, body movement, bowel function, you name it. During brain surgery, if there is damage the consequences can be irreversible. So, my view is that if there is anything that we can do to contribute to greater accuracy, then it should be done.鈥�

Getting clinicians on board

Katerina realised that she could use her skills and knowledge of techniques such as AI to simulate neurovascular surgical procedures. After consulting with dozens of surgeons in the field about how best to set about this task, she went on to found Oxford Heartbeat.听

鈥淭hat was one of the most challenging times for me. Imagine as a student approaching these hugely experienced surgeons and saying: 鈥榤aybe I could help you with this.鈥� It took a while to find clinicians who were open-minded in terms of innovation. Those early-adopters and advocates are still with us now.鈥�

Tailored business support to grow听

The company was incorporated in 2016, residing at BaseKX, 果冻影院鈥檚 entrepreneurship hub in King鈥檚 Cross, managed by 果冻影院 Innovation & Enterprise. Here they received tailored support and dedicated office space which helped fast track the development of their key products.听

鈥淲e鈥檝e been part of various accelerator programmes, but with 果冻影院 it鈥檚 more like you have a base. You have a home, and links to the university and wider 果冻影院 community including the hospitals, which is fantastic,鈥� Katerina says.听

In 2021, Oxford Heartbeat won a 拢1.5 million grant from Innovate UK (the UK government鈥檚 innovation agency), bringing the total amount of public and private investment raised to 拢4 million. The company has also received support from The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE), National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) and Philips HealthWorks.

Demonstrating clinical impact

Oxford Heartbeat has now gained the essential EU CE mark certification听for its software PreSize庐 Neurovascular, allowing it to be deployed in clinical practice. It鈥檚 currently being used by surgeons in hospitals in the UK, Germany and Finland, allowing them to simulate the deployment of a stent ahead of time making surgical procedures more precise.听

The company has started a clinical trial in 2022, to gather concrete evidence on the impact of PreSize庐 in terms of time taken to perform the surgery, reduced complications and other measures.听

鈥淥nly now do I have that professional fulfilment, because we鈥檙e doing something so important and meaningful,鈥� says Katerina. 鈥淥ne of the first patients was an extremely complex case, and the surgeon said he wouldn鈥檛 have been able to achieve the accuracy he needed in her case without our tool.鈥澨�

Links

Find out more about:

• Innovation and enterprise support for 果冻影院 students and recent graduates
• The Hatchery, 果冻影院's startup incubator at BaseKX
• Innovation and enterprise support for 果冻影院 staff

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