As surgical instruments and devices become increasingly advanced, they generate a substantial amount of data within the operating room (OR). Effectively collecting, analyzing, and making this data readily accessible is crucial. Artificial Intelligence (AI) plays a pivotal role in harnessing this data, offering data-driven insights to improve surgical procedures, enhance decision-making for surgeons, and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

To meet this challenge, the Digital Surgery Lab is dedicated to the development of AI-driven algorithms for processing and analyzing data in the preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative phases. This cutting-edge research leverages various sources of data, including endoscopic videos and data from surgical robots, while also monitoring the activities of both human surgical teams and technological components within an experimental OR environment.

The Digital Surgery Lab operates at the intersection of basic research and clinical application, with its leaders, Professor Beat Müller and Dr. Joël Lavanchy, actively practicing visceral surgeons at the University Digestive Health Care Center, Clarunis in Basel. They collaborate within the research ecosystem of DBE to expedite the development and testing of innovative solutions for their clinical work. Their collaborative efforts extend to partnerships with Professor Philippe Cattin's Center for Image Analysis and Navigation, as well as Professor Georg Rauter's BIROMED-Lab, to advance the capabilities of robots for delicate soft tissue procedures.

September 2023

• Beat Müller presents on Pancreatic Cancer and Papillary Carcinoma and Joël Lavanchy on Video-Based Assessment of Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass at the Annual Meeting of the SGG, SGVC and SASL in Interlaken
• The Department of Surgery at University Hospital Basel assigns the project "Data driven surgery" to the Digital Surgery Lab

August 2023

• Beat Müller presents on Robotic Surgical Oncology and Joël Lavanchy on Imroving Surgical Skill Assessment Using Robotics at the Medical Robotic Week / CURAC in Basel

July 2023

• The Digital Surgery Lab at the Department of Biomedical Engineering is founded
• Joël Lavanchy recieves a PostDocMobility return grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation
• Joël Lavanchy presents on How to Start a Surgical Data Science Project at the Surgical Data Sciene Summer School in Strasbourg, France