£405K awarded to extend surgical capability and efficiency. With increasing pressure on surgical services, the cost of delivering surgery and patient waiting times, new technology offers the potential to extend the capabilities of surgeons by elevating the level of precision and improving procedure efficiency. 

On July 18th, 2018, SBRI Healthcare, the NHS England funded initiative championed by the AHSN Network, announced five companies will receive funding to develop novel technologies with potential to help complete surgical procedures more effectively and with higher efficiency.

Under the overall theme of Technology in Surgery, innovations were sought in two categories; pre-operative simulation, enabling surgeons to be better informed through technology or to be able to practice complex surgery in advance; and assisting surgical procedures, where technology is used to enhance surgical performance and reduce variation in outcomes.

With awards of up to £100,000 each, the successful companies and winning technologies are:

Pre-operative simulation
3D Metal Printing: a surgical simulator for treating patients suffering knee osteoarthritis that enables surgeons to train, plan and perform virtual surgery and personalised treatments using virtual data imaging and 3D printing technology.

Oxford Heartbeat: a technology that uses cutting-edge computational modelling to help cardiovascular surgeons accurately plan and rehearse stent placements inside blood vessels making the procedure more efficient and effective.

Inovus: video-based augmented reality (AR) introduced to affordable low-fidelity laparoscopic simulators, providing a more realistic and accessible training platform when compared to more expensive virtual reality (VR) counterparts

Assist surgical procedures
Bioinduction: an ultra-compact device that reduces surgical time for deep brain stimulation in treating Parkinson's disease, and also improves patient safety and comfort.

Lightpoint Medical: a laparoscopic probe for intraoperative cancer detection to improve success and reduce the complications associated with prostate cancer surgery.

Each of the winning companies will aim to demonstrate technical feasibility over a six-month development phase.

Professor David Beard, Royal College of Surgeons Surgical Intervention Trials Unit (SITU), Nuffield Dept of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, commented: “Surgical intervention remains a pivotal component in healthcare delivery and the timely introduction of innovation in this field is critical. There are many barriers to facilitating new surgical treatments and technology into the NHS and wider, including; industrial expertise, business planning and a financial springboard. SBRI Healthcare seeks and provides just such a platform to enterprising medical and engineering academics. The rigorous selection process, out of a range of high calibre applications, ensures the best go forward. This year’s winners include game changing brain aneurysm treatment to 3D implant construction for osteoarthritis to novel simple methods of teaching surgery.

Lorna Green, Chief Operating Officer at Innovation Agency, AHSN for the North West Coast, added: “Encouraging and embracing new technology such as digital tools, robotics and artificial intelligence is key to the future of our health service. Surgical services is one area where innovation has potential to make a real impact whether through totally new developments or taking an existing tool or work practice and deploying it in a new and more effective way. We have seen some fantastic ideas and look forward to working with the companies in making them a reality.”
For more information on SBRI Healthcare visit www.sbrihealthcare.co.uk

ENDS
SBRI Healthcare Partners

Notes to Editors:
Contacts:
Media contact
Sarah Jeffery
Zyme Communications
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Phone: +44 (0) 7771 730919
SBRI Healthcare
Karen Livingstone
Eastern AHSN
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Phone: +44 (0)1223 661 500

3D Metal Printing Ltd www.3dmetalprinting.co.uk 
Local AHSN – West of England
Toka® Surgical Simulator 
Knee Osteoarthritis is the second most common disease in the world. High Tibial Osteotomy (HTO) offers a cost effective solution for thousands of patients who currently have no effective treatment options. The Toka® Surgical Simulator is a digital suite of tools to support surgeons in delivering this treatment. Using virtual data imaging and 3D printing technologies, surgeons will be able to train, plan and perform virtual surgery and personalised treatments. The proposed project aims to deliver:-a precise preoperative landscape for surgeons to deliver surgical cost efficiency in the existing NHS context; reduced waiting times and post-operative stays, reduced future healthcare costs, improved patient outcomes.

Bioinduction Ltd www.bioinduction.com 
Local AHSN – West of England
Faster and simpler deep brain stimulation
The project aims to reduce surgical time for Deep Brain Stimulation to treat Parkinson's disease by 40%, also improving patient safety and comfort through device and procedural innovation. Existing devices require two procedures: one to implant leads in the brain and a second tunneling down the neck to a stimulator in the chest. This is a validation study for a new ultra-compact device implanted in a single procedure in the skull, saving two hours in surgery and circa £2,800 in operating theatre costs. This allows two patients to be scheduled per day rather than one, effectively doubling surgical team productivity.

Inovus Ltd www.inovus.org 
Local AHSN – North West Coast (Innovation Agency)
Democratising access to realistic surgical simulation with augmented reality
Popular opinion suggests that virtual reality (VR) is the future of medical and surgical simulation. However, the limitations of VR become apparent when the accuracy of features such as haptic feedback are brought into question. This is especially true in minimally invasive surgical simulation e.g. laparoscopy. Introducing video based augmented reality to affordable low-fidelity laparoscopic simulators will provide a more realistic and accessible training platform when compared to VR counterparts with much higher price points. With recent financial constraints being placed on the NHS it is imperative that smaller budgets are catered for whilst improving the technology available to clinicians.

Lightpoint Medical Ltd www.lightpointmedical.com 
Local AHSN – Imperial College
Feasibility assessment of a laparoscopic probe for cancer detection
Prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in the UK with a cost of £800m per year to the healthcare system and society. The primary treatment for medium to high grade prostate cancer is complete removal of the prostate yet this procedure carries a high risk of complications and morbidities. Lightpoint Medical is developing a laparoscopic probe for intraoperative cancer detection to improve the success and reduce the complications of prostate cancer surgery. This project will assess the feasibility of the technology in a porcine model and collect surgeon feedback on the technology's usability and performance.

Oxford Heartbeat Ltd www.oxfordheartbeat.com 
Local AHSN – South London (HIN)
Virtual stent deployment to optimise stenting surgeries
Oxford Heartbeat’s goal is to make cardiovascular surgeries more efficient and effective with technology that helps clinicians to accurately plan and rehearse stent placements inside blood vessels. Using cutting-edge computational modelling, the Company makes maximum use of available patient data and device mechanics to accurately predict the behaviour of devices inside each patient's vessel configuration. This will allow clinicians to optimise the device selection, thereby reducing complications and associated cost of stenting surgeries for hospitals and society.

About SBRI Healthcare www.sbrihealthcare.co.uk 
SBRI (Small Business Research Initiative) Healthcare is an NHS England funded programme that provides funding and support to innovative companies to solve healthcare problems. The SBRI Healthcare team works closely with clinicians and frontline NHS staff to identify key challenges from within the service, focusing on specific areas recognised as priority by NHS England and the 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSN). The programme aims to improve patient care, increase efficiency in the NHS, and support the UK economy by helping smaller companies grow.
Each contract is 100% funded by SBRI Healthcare and while the public sector has the right to license the resultant technology in certain circumstances, its intellectual property remains with the company.

The programme’s network of innovative companies extends throughout the UK. Since launching in 2009, £75 million has been awarded to over 150 companies developing solutions for major NHS challenges such as cancer detection, dementia care, mental health in young people and self-management of long-term conditions. SBRI Healthcare supported companies are already making an impact.

About AHSN Network http://www.ahsnnetwork.com 
There are 15 Academic Health Science Networks (AHSNs) across England, established by NHS England in 2013 to spread innovation at pace and scale – improving health and generating economic growth.
Each AHSN works across a distinct geography serving a different population in each region. As the only bodies that connect NHS and academic organisations, local authorities, the third sector and industry, AHSNs are catalysts that create the right conditions to facilitate change across whole health and social care economies, with a clear focus on improving outcomes for patients.