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Elisabetta Durante interviews Prof. Bruno Beomonte Zobel
The medical research and technology are our best allied,
not only because they improve the life expetation,
but also because they can improve its quality.
Novelties in medical field come out with a very high rhythm
and boosted by a very strong hype,
so that, it is possbile to lead the public to confusion.
Then, it is necessary to catch the relevant novelties from that noise.
So, we are grateful to assign this task to the professor Beomonte Zobel
herein his university "Campus Bio-Medico" in Rome.
Professor Zobel graduated at the "Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore"
and he specilized in prestigious centers at Boston, Philadelohia and Detroit.
He is author of more than 400 scientific publications
and he is professor of Diagnostics, Medical Imaging and Radio-therapy
at "Università Campus Biomedico" at Rome
where he is Director of the Department of Imaging Diagnostics
and the Postgraduate School of Radiology.
Professor Zobel, in the Biomedical Imaging and Radiodiagnostic sectors
in the last 40 years, some extraordinary developments occurred.
Can we talk about a revolution for the medical history ?
Yes, of course. Until 1972, when the first CT machine became operational.
it was impossibile to analyze the brain, even if with sugical method
and the Nobel prize assigned to the CT and to the NMR inventors
demonstrated the importance of such technologies.
The last discovered was the Positron Emission Tomography (PET),
firstly exclusively used in research
and after became an interesting oncologic application diffused nationwide.
Do you think that the cooperation between public and private research
could represent a real breakthrough?
Yes, of course. I think that the public and private cooperation is necessary
and I think that Italy suffers a delay, respect to others industrilized countries.
Today, competivity involves research and innovation
so it is necessary to turn the old and rigid schemes
in which, on one hand, university is only dedicated to the base research
and, on the other hand, industry has short-term strategies.
The best compromise is the mean between the two positions.
Could you mention a recent winning case of such cooperation between public and private ?
I can talk about a case selected for representing Italy at the Expo2010 of Shangai.
A company specilized in industrial automation, Masmec, based in Bari,
in partnership with the "Istituto Oncologico IRCCS" based in the same city,
developed a computational system able to guide interventional radiology procedures on the chest,
mainly biopsy and thermo-ablation procedures.
My university was involved in the clinical experimantation
and the results obtained are higher then our best expectations.
This is an interesting novelty.
I'd like to ask you more detailed information, and,
is it possible to see this device?
Yes, of course.
This is an innovative virtual environment that guides surgeon's hand through the patient's skin,
drawing with a needle portions of tissue for the analysis.
The goal is to analyze very small lesions placed in critical anatomical districts.
Earlier, needle's position was verified step by step via radiologic techniques
such as Fluoroscopy or CT.
Today, this system makes eveything easier, more rapid and safe.
Professor, what kind of deseases can be treated with this device ?
SIRIO, this is the name of the system designed by Masmec,
mainly operates on small lung lesions
but, in the future, it will be applied on other body districts
allowing to safely draw small quantities of tissues from other organs
such as liver, pancreas, kidneys or bones
and also to treat small tumor bulks by the thermo-ablation technique.
What are the main benefits and limitations of such system?
The benefits are mainly two: higher security and reliability.
The system allows to reach very small lesions, rapidly, with higher accuracy
using needles with lower gauges than the commonly used ones.
Limitations are related to the presence of general patologies
that prevent the patient to be completely collaborative.
No operational and economic limitations exist.
This is a relevant feature,
expecially nowadays that investments in welfare must take in account financial balances
Absolutely, SIRIO is an example of an advanced technology
but cheap, easy-to-use and affordable by any medical institute.
Moreover, easier procedures and less traumatic impact on patients
reduce the hospitalizations and enable outpatient facilities to treat such cases,
so that patients can return at home after shorter observation period.
Professor, thank you very much for your availability and I greet you.
Good-bye.
The interview content is available on the Italian Union of scientific journalists web-site www.ugis.it
and on District of Scientific and Technological Information - www.disti.it