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[FG] Center for medical Image Analysis & Navigation

Projects & Collaborations

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Einführung von Mixed Reality in die anatomische Ausbildung von Medizinstudierenden

Research Project  | 4 Project Members

Anatomy education faces persistent challenges in conveying complex three-dimensional structures and spatial relationships using traditional two-dimensional materials. While current methods at the University of Basel integrate theoretical lectures, dissection courses, and interactive software, students often struggle to transfer abstract anatomical knowledge into practical skills—especially when identifying structures during dissection or clinical application. This gap between simplified representations and real anatomical complexity underscores a pressing need for innovative teaching tools that enhance spatial understanding and support practical learning.


To address this challenge, the proposed project introduces Mixed Reality (MR) into the anatomy curriculum for medical and dental students. By integrating the Specto software—developed at the University of Basel—with MR headsets, the system overlays patient-specific CT data and 3D reconstructions directly onto anatomical donors in real space. Students will be able to visualize and interact with layered anatomical structures during dissection, take virtual notes, and receive real-time feedback from instructors. This approach is expected to improve spatial comprehension, modernize teaching, and better prepare students for a technologically evolving medical landscape.


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REMEDY (Reducing Mistriage in Emergency Departments: A Path to Improved Triage Accuracy through Real-time Evaluation and Artificial Intelligence)

Research Project  | 4 Project Members

Imported from Grants Tool 4707568


RemEDy (Reducing Mistriage in Emergency Departments)

The demand for emergency care varies and can change rapidly. Emergency Department (ED) performance depends on the number of patients who present, and their flow through the ED to their safest and most appropriate disposition (admission to tertiary care, referral to one of the partnering hospitals, or discharge). Effective triage is critical for the safe management of patients presenting to the ED, ensuring the right patient receives the right care at the right time in the right place with the right resources. Despite the recognized importance of accurate triage of emergency department patients, approximately 20% to 30% experience incorrect triage level assignment, known as mistriage. Mistriage might be associated with adverse health outcomes. To enhance triage accuracy, it is crucial to understand the causes of mistriage and how they are associated with the characteristics of patients, triage clinicians, and ED metrics. A comprehensive understanding of mistriage will allow for the identification of potential areas for improvement, leading to the development of measures to avoid it. RemEDy (Reducing Mistriage in Emergency Departments) will identify and analyze mistriage in a real-time triage setting in 7 ED’s in German-speaking Switzerland, comparing routine triage procedures with expert triage simultaneously, and develop and evaluate an AI model that can potentially assist with triage decisions, aiming to detect patients who should not wait early. Based on the results, we will develop a learning module for triage clinicians and assess its effectiveness in reducing mistriage. This could result in enhanced accuracy in triage code assignment, thereby reducing mistriage and its associated consequences.

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Stop tip-toeing around toe-walking: towards a better understanding and more effective treatment of toe-walkers with cerebral palsy

Research Project  | 8 Project Members

Background and Rationale: Walking is the most common and necessary form of movement for humans, as it ensures active participation in activities of daily life. In the initial stages of learning to walk, gait is rather unstable as well as variable. During this initial phase, children need to successfully perform the entire gait cycle that involves touch-down (characteristic heel-strike where the ankle is flexed), lift-off and swing phases. The characteristic heel-strike is critical to walking both effectively (stable) and efficiently (energy). Children that suffer from neuro-developmental disorders (e.g. cerebral palsy, CP) are often not able to heel-strike, they tend to keep walking with a forefoot or flatfoot pattern (i.e. toe-walking). Children that toe-walk often show poorer levels of static and dynamic stability, leading to a lower quality of life compared to typically developing children (TD). Current research suggests multifactorial adaptations in central and/or peripheral nervous as well as the musculoskeletal system contribute to and result from toe-walking. Current treatment mainly focuses on physically restoring the capability to heel-strike, however, adherence to walking with heel-strike is poor. From clinical experience, we hypothesize psychological factors (primarily fear-of-falling) as well as inadequate reflex control might contribute to toe-walking behavior. Currently, the interplay between the nervous-, musculoskeletal-, and psychological systems and their impact on resulting walking patterns are poorly understood. In order to sustain effective gait by means of effective interventions, it is therefore critical to understand the interplay among the mechanisms that underpin toe-walking adaptation. Overall Objectives & Specific Aims: The purpose of this study is to explore the interplay among nervous-, musculoskeletal-, and psychological systems and how they impact toe-walking behavior, and vice versa. Here, we will determine the effect of psychological factors (via the use of a custom-designed virtual reality environment) on static vs. dynamic stability, motor control and coordination (indirect assessment of central nervous system function), as well as reflex control (Hoffmann-reflex, H-reflex, performance of peripheral nervous system). In addition, we will also investigate the effect of restoring heel striking in toe-walkers based on the indices as mentioned above. Expected Results: It is expected that toe-walkers will show poorer stability during standing and walking, have a reduced H-reflex amplitude, reduced number of muscle synergies as well as increased fear-of-falling compared to TD. With the use of a custom-made virtual reality (VR) environment, the fear-of-falling in children will be increased. VR induced fear-of-falling will lead to poorer stability during standing and walking tasks in TD; in toe-walkers such reactions are present already without VR but worsen during VR conditions. By restoring (via the use of orthoses) heel-strike in toe-walkers stability during standing and walking tasks will be improved, number of muscle synergies will be increased, fear-of-falling will be reduced, and performance on VR induced fear-of-falling will be improved. Impact: Although development of heel-strike behavior takes place early in life, not all children demonstrate this feature during walking in daily life. Lack of heel-strike behavior is less efficient and leads to poorer quality of life. Management strategies to restore this critical feature of walking, have failed primarily due to the fact that although the capability might be restored, the adherence to walking with heel-strike is poor. By focusing on understanding the interplay between nervous-, musculoskeletal-, and psychological factors that might predispose individuals to toe-walking, we will provide solutions to design effective treatment strategies in the future.