BrainMap

Nicolae Crisan

Associate Professor

Associate Professor - UNIVERSITATEA DE MEDICINA SI FARMACIE "IULIU HATIEGANU"

Teaching staff | Scientific reviewer | Consultant

Curriculum Vitae (13/06/2020)

Expertise & keywords

Robotic assisted prostate biopsy, a high accuracy innovative method Call name: Joint Applied Research Projects - PCCA 2013 - call
PN-II-PT-PCCA-2013-4-0647 2014 - 2017

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA

Project partners: UNIVERSITATEA TEHNICA DIN CLUJ - NAPOCA (RO); UNIVERSITATEA DE MEDICINA SI FARMACIE (U.M.F) Cluj-Napoca (RO); UNIVERSITATEA TRANSILVANIA BRASOV (RO); ELECTRONIC APRIL APARATURA ELECTRONICA SPECIALA S.R.L. (RO); INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE DEZVOLTARE PENTRU OPTOELECTRONICA INOE 2000 INCD FILIALA INSTITUTUL DE CERCETARI PENTRU INSTRUMENTATIE ANALITICA CLUJ NAPOCA (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA DE MEDICINA SI FARMACIE (U.M.F) Cluj-Napoca (RO)

Project website: http://www.cester.utcluj.ro/robocore/index.html

Abstract:

Prostate cancer is the most widely spread form of cancer, generally affecting men of age over 45. Several studies showed that 80% of the men over 70 had different forms of prostate cancer, most of them not being aware of that.

As in any disease, early diagnosis allows simpler curative actions, less patient trauma, better life expectancy and quality for the patient. Nevertheless, the diagnosis for prostate cancer is carried in the same way as it was performed 50 years ago. It involves a 12-core, transrectal ultrasound guided biopsy (TRUS). This technique is performed without knowing the exact 3D tumours location and it was proven that in 30% of the cases, it provides false-negative results. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) enables a better view of the prostate with clear tumour definition, but MRI guided biopsy can be achieved only with MRI compatible materials which make the procedure prohibitive. The current worldwide diagnosis technique for prostate cancer has some major drawbacks: low real-time image quality, blind biopsy and impossibility of registering the 3D location of the biopsy cores.

Early and correct diagnosis represents a critical priority and due to the current limitations it becomes the starting point of the ROBOCORE project. The consortium proposes the development of a system to achieve high accuracy ultrasound guided prostate biopsies through: ► the biopsy accuracy increase by the development of a robot capable to position the biopsy gun using the visual feedback from the TRUS probe, and ► the achievement of a software solution which performs the simulation, in virtual reality, of the prostate biopsy using MRI data.

The project aim is to develop a robotic system which combines the MRI capacity to identify malignant tissue and precisely define the biopsy targets with the accessibility and real-time capability of an ultrasound guided system. Using the virtual reality software the coordinates of the biopsy targets are identified, and using the robot the biopsy is performed with high accuracy. The system has two major components: ► a robot capable to perform the TRUS guided biopsy based on specific points of interest identified before, and ► an advanced software capable to perform the simulation in a virtual environment for the robotic assisted prostate biopsy.

Based on the defined aim and estimated results (Experimental Model of the robot capable of performing prostate biopsies + simulation software in virtual reality environment for the prostate biopsy + trained young scientists, 6 PhD students +patent +10 papers + 5 communications) ROBOCORE addresses the Domain 7–Innovative Materials, Processes and Products, and responds to the demands formulated in the research theme 7.3.2 Applied mechatronics; intelligent mechatronic products and systems.

The consortium is coordinated by the Technical University of Cluj-Napoca with renowned specialists in the field of parallel robots, and four institutional partners: University of Medicine and Pharmacy Cluj-Napoca with a team of urology doctors specialised in prostate cancer, University Transilvania of Brasov, which provides the software and virtual reality specialists, the Research Institute for Analytical Instrumentation with know-how in the development of medical devices and a private company, Electronic April Cluj-Napoca, specialised in medical apparatus development and commercialization. It must be stated that all the consortium members have previous experience and successful achievements in the field of medical robotics.

The end-product of ROBOCORE is an innovative complex system, which aims to provide accurate diagnosis in early cancer stages, enabling the proper therapy identification and an active surveillance of the tumours evolution which reduces the patient discomfort, provides him the right treatment at the right time and also enables proper follow-up after each evaluation or therapy stage.

Intelligent Systems for Recurrence and Progression Prediction in Superficial Bladder Cancer based on Artificial Intelligence and Microarray Data: tumor mRNA and plasma microRNA Call name: Joint Applied Research Projects - PCCA-2011 call, Type 1
PN-II-PT-PCCA-2011-3.1-1221 2012 - 2016

Role in this project:

Coordinating institution: SOLUTIONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE APPLICATIONS SAIA

Project partners: SOLUTIONS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE APPLICATIONS SAIA (RO); UNIVERSITATEA DE MEDICINA SI FARMACIE (U.M.F) Cluj-Napoca (RO); INSTITUTUL NATIONAL DE CERCETARE-DEZVOLTARE PENTRU OPTOELECTRONICA INOE 2000 INCD (RO)

Affiliation: UNIVERSITATEA DE MEDICINA SI FARMACIE (U.M.F) Cluj-Napoca (RO)

Project website: http://www.saia.ro/?p=17

Abstract:

IntelUro will develop the most accurate (95%-100%) intelligent predictive systems for superficial bladder cancer recurrence and progression. For a new patient, these systems will take as inputs the level of tumor mRNA or plasma microRNA (non-invasive) biomarkers discovered by us, and will predict if the patient will evolve toward recurrence/progression or not. Thus, the therapy could be personalized for the benefit of the patient with a dramatic decrease of the management costs. UMF Cluj (P1) will perform the complex clinical and pathological investigations of the patients, and the microarray experiments. SAIA (CO), will implement a software platform for data collection and integration with data available from other international centers, and will develop a bioinformatics methodology and workflow, combining statistical and advanced artificial intelligence techniques, for knowledge discovery in this multicenter database. ICIA (P3) will collaborate with SAIA in various stages of the development and implementation of the integrated bioinformatics platform. SAIA and UMF will collaborate in interpreting the clinical and biological meaning of intermediary and final results, like the specific alterations of signaling pathways discovered or the clinical decision support offered by some predictions. As in any project combining high throughput data with artificial intelligence, the number of microarray samples and the computational power are important, but costly. IntelUro is carefully designed to satisfy the financial and time constraints and reach the best published results, by properly combining the human resources and facilities of the 3 partners with the project budget. The project will be carried out with the highest possible ethical standards, complying with all EU and national regulations.

FILE DESCRIPTION	DOCUMENT
List of research grants as project coordinator or partner team leader
Significant R&D projects for enterprises, as project manager
R&D activities in enterprises
Peer-review activity for international programs/projects