The ASTONISH project creates innovation potential, both for the technology providers as well as for the solution providers. New sensing technologies will be developed and integrated into the next generation optical imaging and sensing products. Furthermore, imaging and sensing modalities will be combined into multi modal and multi spectral systems providing not only more information, but more importantly more accurate and reliable information.
1a – Continuous minimally obtrusive PPG/ECG measurement
PPG technology nowadays is widely employed in professional environments mainly for heart beat rate and oxygen saturation measurements. ASTONISH will provide the first PPG-ECG multisite system able to acquire reliable PPG signals synchronized with ECG from several different body sites at the same time. The system will be used for arterial stiffness diagnosis and monitoring not possible with current medical equipments based on a limited number of measurement sites. ASTONISH will result in breakthrough innovation in the hardware design of PPG sensing, by improving sensitivity, reproducibility and stability of the probes, with negligibly higher cost and, at the same time, by reducing power consumption. These objectives will be achieved by means of novel light sensors with higher sensitivity, dedicated readout electronics and new schemes for light modulation. Integration with ECG probes will provide a more robust identification of PPG pulses, as well as a high repeatability and immunity to motion and ambient artifacts.
1b – Brain function monitoring (EEG/fNIRS)
The advantage of EEG/fNIRS for clinical settings relies on its capability of monitoring brain hemodynamics continuously, non-invasively and in real time at the bedside. The development of portable, fibreless and especially wireless combo EEG/fNIRS devices extends this application to everyday life settings. This is essential for the diagnosis of brain abnormalities as the artificial and tightly constrained clinical settings interferes with patients’ behaviour and influences the outcome of the neuropsychological tests.
1c – Precise monitoring of diabetic necrotic tissue and inflammation
Presently, the diagnosis of both ischemia and inflammation is in most cases based on visual checking of cardinal manifestations. In case of inflammations. The technology to be developed in ASTONISH is a novel device dealing with state-of-the-art challenges in 3D surface reconstruction and multimodal data fusion. Within one minute, the 3D thermal model of a patient’s body can be captured in high resolution. From this model, it is directly evident where the inflammation origin is located and which exact region is affected by ischemia.
2a – Hyperspectral imaging for surgery
Hyperspectral imaging is a promising technology, allowing the imaging of an object with full spectral resolution. It provides a complete spectral fingerprint of the object which can be used for advanced patient and instrument tracking purposes (replacing X-ray fluoroscopy), and visualization of critical structures like nerves, tumors and tumor margins in an intraoperative setting (improving clinical workflow and reducing postoperative complications and morbidity).
A broadband hyperspectral snapshot camera will be developed, capable of distinguishing different tissue constituents. The system will be used for open surgery and minimally invasive interventions. Furthermore, functional information from the hyperspectral camera and morphological information from X-ray images will be combined using advanced image processing algorithms, resulting in valuable feedback for the physician during open and/or minimally invasive surgery procedures.
2b Hyperspectral skin cancer detection
The increasing concern of the population on skin cancer prevention in the last decade, preceded by the awareness campaigns organized by the governments and health institutions, plus the advances in the development of photonics based techniques, have led to the development of new solutions which aim early and in-situ diagnosis of skin cancer. Several other techniques besides hyperspectral imaging and OCT have been studied for skin cancer detection. The combination of photonics technologies in cancer detection applications suggests by itself a great innovation in the diagnosis sector.
2c – OCT based skin cancer detection
OCT systems can be build employing different components and optical configurations which have a great effect in the resolution finally achieved by the system, especially the light source design. The OCT technology combines both Time domain and Fourier domain configuration techniques with the goal of obtaining ground breaking technological advantages over the competitors.
