Advanced Data Analysis in Medicine is a Research & Development Group for software solutions for Medicine, based in Lecce (Italy) in the "Laboratorio di Fisica Biomedica e Ambiente" of the University of Salento. It is associated with DReAM, Laboratory of interDisciplinary Research Applied to Medicine.
ADAM
includes
researchers with competences in Physics,
Informatics, Life Sciences, with a common experience in the
field of software applications for Medicine.
Our concern is the advanced
processing of bio-medical data, above all for diagnostics, but
also for prognosis and therapy assessment, in various interest fields.
Expert in the computerized processing
of medical data with main interest on diagnostic images, our
objective is to make some medical-diagnostic procedures automatic and
operator-independent, in particular but not limited to the oncologic
field.
Recently, our interest extended to bio-medical data of different
nature, and we are developing software
tools for EEG
(electroencephalography) data processing, for the achievement of
BCI
(Brain-Computer Interface) systems.
In
collaboration with the IRCCS San Raffaele
Hospital and Università Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan (Neuroradiology
Unit), we have developed a CAD system for the automatic or
semi-automatic detection of brain gliomas in magnetic resonance imaging
of different modality (T2W, FLAIR, DTI).
Brain
gliomas invade surrounding tissues
along white matter fibers, spreading beyond the pathological area
highlighted by conventional MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging). The
response to chemotherapy treatment
is currently assessed on the basis of the variation in tumor volume,
often carried out visually. The system we have developed, in
collaboration with the IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital and Università
Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Milan (Neuroradiology Unit), performs a
point-by-point assessment based on diffusion tensor maps.
A CAD
has been developed for the automatic detection of pleural nodules in
pulmonary CT images. The project was part of the INFN experiments
called MAGIC5 (Medical Applications on a Grid Infrastructure
Connection) and M5L (MAGIC5 Lung).
We
contributed to the development of an early detection system for
neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer's, in magnetic
resonance imaging. The project was the responsibility of the INFN
experiment called MAGIC5 (Medical Applications on a Grid Infrastructure
Connection).
Breast cancer can be classified into
two main groups: in situ and infiltrative, with the latter being the
most common malignant. The prototype of a CAD system for the
discrimination between in situ and infiltrating tumours is under
development. Collaboration with the group of Maurizio Portaluri MD from
the Di Summa - Perrino Hospital in Brindisi.
RCM
is a well-established technique that has been shown to
significantly increase the sensitivity and specificity of melanoma
diagnosis when compared with the traditional naked-eye examination. A
CAD system is under development to support the physician during
diagnosis. Collaboration with Città di Lecce Hospital, with Massimo
Federico MD and the group of Giovanni Pellacani MD from Università di
Modena e Reggio.
A study is
starting on the possibility of predicting the occurrence of pulmonary
hypertension (PH) in the newborn from fetus radiomics features in MRI.
As PH is related to the need of ECMO (ExtraCorporeal Membrane
Oxygenation) for the newborn, early prenatal assessment may be vital
for therapy. Collaboration with the group of G. Cavallaro MD PhD from
Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Università
degli Studi di Milano.
