Welcome
IMPPACT is a European FP7 ICT-Project (STREP) started on 1.09.2008 with the end on 31.12.2011. It aimed to develop an intervention planning system for Radiofrequency Ablation of malignant liver tumours.
Problem or Context
Radiofrequency Ablation (RFA) is a minimally invasive form to treat cancer without open surgery, by placing a needle inside the malignancy and destroying it through intensive heating. Though the advantages of this approach are obvious, the intervention is currently hard to plan, almost impossible to monitor or assess, and therefore is not the first choice for treatment.
Project
IMPPACT will develop a physiological model of the liver and simulate the RFA intervention’s result, accounting for patient specific physiological factors.- Closing gaps in the understanding of particular aspects of the RFA treatment by multi-scale studies on cells and animals
- Transforming microscopic findings and into macroscopic equations
- Extending the long-established bio-heat equation to incorporate multiple scales
- Validating results at multiple levels
- Cross checking validity for human physiology by comparison to images from ongoing patient treatment
- Visual comparison of simulation and treatment results gathered in animal studies and during patient treatment
- Extensive validation together with a user-centred software design approach guarantee suitability of the solution for clinical practice
Mathematical modelling together with experimental validation lead to a patient specific intervention planning system. read more
Expected Results & Impacts
IMPPACT will be modelling a physiological organ including the metabolism and patient specific tissue properties. This alone is a huge step forward as compared to the state-of-the-art intervention planning systems that do not address this issue.
The IPS will allow prediction of treatment results on a patient specific base. It will therefore bring down the risk of local recurrences and eliminate the nowadays so common repeated treatments of the same tumour, making RFA an as effective treatment as resection. read more
