The “Endorama®“ system of Fraunhofer IIS provides image panoramas in real time and thus allows a complete digital and image-based documentation of an endoscopic examination. In the context of a technical evaluation, the “Endorama®“ system has successfully been applied to patients in the clinic of urology in Mannheim in July 2016.
Clinical Application of Endorama®: Examination of Patients
An application example for the panorama endoscopy is the endoscopic examination of the bladder by the use of a rigid or flexible cystoscope. During the examination, the “Endorama®“ system fuses the acquired endoscopic images from the bladder to a panoramic image. This panorama is displayed for the physician in real time on a screen. “Endorama®“ thus allows an easy and clear image documentation of the clinical findings in the bladder in relation to relevant structures such as the ostia or the bladder neck.
Conspicuous structures or areas after surgeries can be labelled interactively and can thus be reliable relocated during a later examination. The fast and straightforward generation of the image panoramas in high quality can thus enhance the documentation of the examination as well as the data exchange with external physicians.
“Endorama®“ has not yet been certified as a medical product. Fraunhofer IIS presents this functional prototype with the aim of engaging partners for further development as well as for production and marketing.
“I was impressed by the exemplary model design of Cystorama. The stitching technique on the bladder phantom worked smoothly and the interaction was intuitive. After only a few attempts, it was possible to easily generate a complete image of the bladder model with this technology.
I can well imagine the use of the technology in everyday clinical practice and would recommend it to my colleagues. The ’keyhole view problem’ can be solved almost completely by using the stitching technology. The discovery and recovery of suspect areas and structures is notably simplified.“
Dr. Philippe-Fabian Müller, Department of Urology, University Hospital Freiburg,
at the project meeting of the 3D sensation project on September 21, 2017, at the Fraunhofer IIS
Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS