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Cooperation project between Medical Center - University of Freiburg and Siemens Healthineers brings the latest medical technology developments straight to the patient

As a sign of its close strategic cooperation, the Heart Center of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg has been named a Global Multimodal Reference Clinic for Cardiovascular Medicine by Siemens Healthineers. This makes the Medical Center - University of Freiburg the first university hospital in Germany to receive this distinction.

The goal of the already very fruitful partnership between Siemens Healthineers and the Medical Center - University of Freiburg is the development of ground-breaking multimodal clinical workflows and treatment concepts in cardiovascular medicine. Today, innovative medical technologies and intelligent digitization processes are already making a valuable contribution to improving patient care and pointing the way to a redesign of healthcare.

"The Medical Center - University of Freiburg provides quality-centered, cutting-edge university medicine on a daily basis and is one of the pioneers in digitization in healthcare," says Prof. Dr. Frederik Wenz, Head Medical Director and Chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. "We are also increasingly relying on Big Data analyses and artificial intelligence in diagnostics, therapy finding and quality control. Strong partnerships with industry are essential for us to find innovative solutions to technological and medical challenges for the benefit of patients."

"We have enjoyed a very successful partnership with the Medical Center - University of Freiburg for many years. The University Heart Center provides holistic care for patients with cardiovascular diseases and pursues an integral treatment concept along the entire clinical patient pathway. Integrated innovations and concepts that optimize patient treatment to achieve better therapy results are the common goal in this cooperation," says Doris Pommi, Head of Cardiovascular Care at Siemens Healthineers.

Pioneering technologies in therapy and diagnostics

One practical example of good cooperation in action is the world's most advanced cardiac catheter robot, which has been in use at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg for several months. The assistant robot enables doctors to dilate coronary vessels or insert stents, for example after a heart attack, with the aid of state-of-the-art imaging. With the help of numerous sensors and motors, the robot arm is steered by the attending physicians via a control console with a high-resolution monitor located at some distance from the treatment table. With the support of the robot, cardiologists can perform interventions on the coronary vessels even more precisely and at the same time very carefully.

Another example is the joint project "Photon-Counting CT Consortium" (PC3) at the university locations of Freiburg, Tübingen and Mannheim, which includes the two partners Siemens Healthineers and the state agency BIOPRO Baden-Württemberg GmbH.

The new photon counting technology, which was developed through extensive basic research, is the next generation of CT. In contrast to the CT technology used to date, the new technology is based on direct conversion of X-ray photons into a primarily digital signal in the CT detector. The completely digital data acquisition opens up completely new possibilities in patient care. In particular, the acquisition of large, highly complex data volumes offers valuable approaches in the further development of diagnostics and therapy.