Fraunhofer at the DMEA - Fraunhofer showcases the digital healthcare of tomorrow

Improved patient care, faster diagnoses and savings in care costs: the digital transformation of the healthcare industry promises solutions to the pressing challenges of our time. Systems based on artificial intelligence (AI) are being used more and more frequently. But how can they be used effectively and in compliance with data protection regulations? At DMEA 2023 in Berlin from 24 to 27 April, experts from the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft will provide insights into their current research and answer questions about the health IT of tomorrow at stand D107 in hall 2.2.

Health research plays a prominent role at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. Together with partners from the field, numerous institutes are developing digital solutions for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of patients. The aim is to streamline processes and also to be able to offer affordable care for an ageing society. The technologies support both players in the healthcare sector, such as clinics and medical staff, as well as patients with applications for use at home.

Apps and applications for optimised and individualised treatment

The Fraunhofer Institute for Intelligent Analysis and Information Systems IAIS presents AI-based software for the automatic processing of medical documents. Successful AI research enables the reliable and comprehensible use of large-scale language models (foundation models) for applications such as doctor's letter generation, information extraction and billing. This saves time in everyday clinical practice and guarantees a high quality of treatment.

With its digital solutions, the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Graphics Research IGD is making a contribution to personalised medicine. The software applications support healthcare professionals and patients in prevention, diagnostics and therapy. This includes a new procedure for smartphone-based allergy test evaluation or the possibility of visual-interactive data analysis based on cohorts, for example in the field of chronic inflammatory bowel disease. The AI-based software "Guardio®" transforms heart movements into an ECG while the smartphone is placed on the chest.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Cognitive Systems IKS is investigating aspects of trust and efficiency in the use of artificial intelligence in medical care. On the one hand, the researchers present new quantum computing approaches in the context of AI to improve the early detection of breast cancer. On the other hand, they show how clinical routine data and AI can be reliably combined to support doctors in their decisions.

Intelligent data integration is becoming increasingly relevant for medical staff in modern clinical practice. With the help of new algorithms and innovative AI, more precise diagnoses and personalised treatment plans can be created automatically. At DMEA, the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Medicine MEVIS will be presenting software solutions for data structuring and guideline-based decision-making to interested companies. The MEVIS experts will also be demonstrating optimised procedures for image-guided follow-up monitoring of cancer treatments using AI.

The Fraunhofer Center for Digital Diagnostics addresses the improvement of medical care in rural areas through patient-oriented diagnostics and digitalisation. Data sources in patient care are analysed and optimised. The development of a fully automated, mobile health centre can facilitate healthcare in rural areas. Next-generation virus tests will enable needs-based diagnostics and the containment of outbreaks. Intelligent wound care will enable poorly healing wounds to heal more quickly.

The Fraunhofer Center for Assistive Information and Communication Solutions AICOS in Portugal is developing technologies for digital healthcare in which predictive, preventive, personalised and participatory medicine plays a key role - and is presenting these to the German healthcare market at the DMEA. These technologies facilitate human intervention, connection and collaboration in healthcare. With a view to decentralised healthcare, the Fraunhofer Centre aims to improve access to early treatment, support medical decisions with the help of algorithms and generate transparent and explainable AI-based decisions.

Tools and structures for IT professionals and health management

The National Research Centre for Applied Cybersecurity ATHENE is supporting the digital transformation in medicine and researching solutions for secure digitalisation in the healthcare sector. The focus is on how sensitive healthcare data can be securely transmitted, stored and used and how access controls can be sensibly designed for cloud solutions. Targeted visualisations of data protection information provide support, as does a digital patient model as a data-driven decision-making aid.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FIT has a long tradition of supporting the healthcare sector with IT. The focus is on supporting diagnostics and therapy as well as clinical and pharmacological research using integrated approaches from molecular diagnostics, image and signal analysis, data integration and AI. Due to the increasing digitalisation of the healthcare system, the collection and use of patient data, telemedicine applications and health apps have become additional topics.

"DPM.research" from the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS is an individually configurable, digital study management tool for the simple, effective implementation of clinical studies of all kinds. Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) are recorded in everyday patient life in compliance with the GDPR and in medical quality via a wearable connection and transferred to a web-based server using an app. Data changes are tracked using audit trails. As an eCRF system, "DPM.research" enables the integration of various data sources, standardised questionnaires or scores.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Software and Systems Engineering ISST researches and develops software technologies for digital and data-driven healthcare. This results in concepts, architectures, prototypes and components for transparent, interoperable, federated and sovereign healthcare data centres. At the DMEA, the experts will be presenting various data room projects on infrastructure (Health-X dataLOFT, ivy.connect, MII), data utilisation (DARE, DAWID) and services/applications (ADLER).

Further information on the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft's exhibits at the DMEA can be found here:  https://www.fraunhofer.de/de/veranstaltungen-messen/messen/2023/dmea.html 

Press release from "openPR" dated 05/04/2023