Happy holidays and a happy 2025
We are pleased to look back on the highlights of the past year in clinical practice, research and teaching.
Automatically segmented: With over 250,000 installations, the total segmentator developed by us is a globally recognized tool for the detection and analysis of anatomical classes in CT scans. In abdominal and oncological diagnostics, it can be used to continuously measure the volume of organs. In 2024, the software, which is supported by artificial intelligence, was expanded to include functionality for MRI. The world map shows the installations of the tool.
Honoring the next generation of scientists
Moritz Oberparleiter was awarded an "Invest in the Youth" congress grant at the European Congress of Radiology, the largest European congress for radiology, for his research into dual energy CT of acute intestinal ischemia. Our assistant doctor investigated the influence of dual energy CT on diagnostic accuracy and reader confidence. His work was accepted by the specialist journal European Radiology.
Flexibility even during bottlenecks
Due to the new EU approval requirements, numerous medical devices have become scarce in Swiss hospitals. Our radiology specialist Severine Dziergwa gave a very clear answer to how the interventional radiology team is dealing with this and what political steps would help in a report on Swiss television SRF.
Two of the three best
Two of the three best-rated scientific abstracts (out of 2473 papers submitted) at the world's largest congress of nuclear medicine came from our nuclear medicine department and were recognized by theEuropean Association of Nuclear Medicine (EANM)The prestigious prize also went to Basel: to our assistant physician Dr. Julia Fricke for her research on a new approach to metastatic neuroendocrine tumors.
The use of the active substance developed at the Paul Scherrer Institute was named "Image of the Month" by the most important European specialist journal for nuclear medicine, and the group also won the prize for the best presentation at the annual conference of the Swiss Society of Nuclear Medicine.
Investing for the third time
Innosuisse awards the radiopharmaceutical chemistry research group for the third year in a row. In 2024, it is awarding our research associate Dr. Jacopo Millul (as PI) CHF 315,000 for the development of the first PET radioligand against endometriosis. Endometriosis affects 200 million women worldwide. The aim of Millul's research is to reduce the time to diagnosis from years to months.
Successful research on radioligands
The radiopharmaceutical chemistry department at the USB recently recorded significant successes in its research on radioligands (radioactively labeled substances that bind specifically to a target protein, e.g. a receptor on a tumor cell, and thus destroy tumor tissue in a targeted manner while sparing healthy tissue):
Best Paper: the group received the EANM Springer Award for Best Paper 2024 for their groundbreaking research on radioligands targeting the tumor microenvironment. Jacopo Millul, research associate in radiopharmaceutical chemistry, was awarded the prize, which is jointly presented by the European Association of Nuclear Medicine and Springer Verlag. He received it for "Head-to-head comparison of different classes of FAP radioligands designed to increase tumor residence time: monomer, dimer, albumin binders, and small molecules vs peptides". Millul had investigated strategies that increase the residence time of certain radioligands.
Radiation-reduced, rapid cardiac diagnostics
We have been able to optimize CT coronary angiography (CTCA) to diagnose coronary heart disease with less radiation exposure.
CTCA requires synchronization of the CT device with the heartbeat. The CT parameters required for this are now adjusted automatically based on the planning CT and no longer manually based on the BMI.
The new protocol reduces the average radiation dose by 36% (from 1.4 to 0.9 mSv) and speeds up the procedure - while maintaining high image quality.
The project team led by PD Dr Maurice Pradella (senior radiologist), Judith Grothues (radiology specialist) and Dr Christoph Aberle (research assistant) introduced the optimized protocol as standard and was awarded the CIP Prize 2024.
The optimized CT coronary angiography (left: 3D overview, right: detailed vascular image) precisely shows the high-grade narrowing of a left-sided coronary vessel (anterior interventricular ramus) even with low radiation exposure.
Proven efficacy against insulinomas
A study led by Prof. Damian Wild (Head of Nuclear Medicine) and Prof. Emanuel Christ (Head of Endocrinology) has shown that peptide receptor radionuclide therapy is effective in the treatment of symptomatic metastatic insulinomas. These are characterized by inappropriate insulin secretion and cause life-threatening hypoglycemia.
World's first 61Cu PET image
After four years of research, the radiopharmaceutical chemistry team developed radioligands based on the previously unexplored PET radionuclide copper-61. In collaboration with the Technical University of Munich, they published the world's first human 61Cu-PET imagewith their 61Cu-PSMA radioligandin a patient with metastatic prostate cancer.
Support for the MirEndo project to simplify endometriosis diagnostics
The Innovation Office of the University of Basel has awarded Dr. Jacopo Millul and Prof. Melpomeni Fani (research associate and head of radiopharmaceutical chemistry) for their technology to simplify the diagnosis of endometriosis. Their project MirEndo received a Propelling Grant. The new technology, which uses PET radioligands, is intended to replace the previous surgical diagnosis and detect the degree of spread of endometriosis in the body with extreme precision.
Congress success under our aegis
The annual conference of the USGG (Union Schweizerische Gesellschaft für Gefäßkrankheiten) took place from November 6-8 in Basel under the presidency of Prof. Christoph J. Zech (Head of Interventional Radiology). With almost 600 participants, the congress was a great success.
Together against childhood cancer
The Zoé4life Foundation has selected radiopharmaceutical chemistry research as a new therapeutic strategy against neuroblastoma (Dr. Rosalba Mansi and Prof. Melpomeni Fani, research associate and head of radiopharmaceutical chemistry, as PI, in collaboration with Dr. Karim Abid from CHUV).
In addition, SIOPEN, the largest neuroblastoma network, announced its intention to conduct a multicenter clinical trial following the successful completion of our research.
Basis for guidelines
The DISTAL study conducted by the specialist group led by Prof. Marios Psychogios, Head of Neuroradiology, and Prof. Urs Fischer, Chief Physician of Neurology, investigated the effectiveness of endovascular therapy for occlusions of medium-sized cerebral arteries in over 500 patients with acute stroke in a randomized controlled trial. The results provide the data basis for therapy guidelines that are currently lacking and will be presented at the 2025 ISC in 2025.
Chatbots from radiology
Various of our projects use chatbots to reduce the workload, for example to automatically generate consultation reports. Currently being tested in glioma diagnostics and neurovascular consultations, these approaches have met with great interest throughout the hospital and were awarded this year's KVP prize by the University Hospital Basel.
Certified AI algorithm
Together with the DBE (Department of Biomedical Engineering) and the DKF (Department of Clinical Research) at the University of Basel, we have certified an AI algorithm for segmenting multiple sclerosis lesions. The team led by our research associate Shan Yang is now integrating the detection of lesions into the radiology workflow in such a way that they can be displayed as required.
" to the article "Artificial intelligence supports MS diagnostics" from 14.11.2024