3D Virtual Ecography project is the first fruit of the collaboration between the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), the Institute of Biomedical Research of Bellvitge (IDIBELL) and the University Hospital of Bellvitge (HUB) to promote biomedical research and technology transfer.

On the one hand, the agreement enables UPC students learn about the needs of health personnel to develop innovative solutions in the hospital environment and, secondly, provides investigators with access to existing technologies in the UPC, specifically, in research groups associated with the Telecom BCN (ETSETB). The Innovation Unit IDIBELL participates in the management and monitoring of this collaboration vehiculando relations between the partners.

The 3D Virtual Ecography project comes from a real problem identified by Dr. Thomas Domingo, doctor of the Pain Unit of Anaesthesia, Resuscitation and Pain Therapy, HUB. It is about improving puncture ecoguide to treat pain through design, construction and validation of a system to obtain a 3D image that facilitates display the position and orientation of the needle into the patient’s tissue so that the puncture time is reduced and also the discomfort for the patient.

Two teams of 10 students each have carried out a settlement proposal within the subject Advanced Engineering Project, which refers to the third year of the degree of ETSETB, UPC. This is one of the three subjects of projects that students do following the CDIO methodology with which it is intended to have design experiences that solve real problems. Solutions include hardware that determines the position of the probe and image processing software that generates 3D visualization from 2D images acquired by the scanner.

For the project, the company has given Sonosite ultrasound apparatus (M-TURBO) with a longitudinal probe and a convex, so that students can do in-situ tests and reach a technological solution.