IRTIC

IRTIC is a surgical and interventional research network that aims at developing digital procedures for tomorrow cancer surgery. IRTIC was launched in 2010 with a governing structure that includes four committees: Board of Directors, Scientific Committee, Knowledge Valorisation and Industrial Partnership Committee and Ethics Committee. RESEARCH AXES | IRTIC focuses its efforts on five cross-disciplinary research axes : • Acquisition and visualization of intra-body images • Surgical equipment: endoscopic surgical instruments, computer-assisted medical interventions (CAMI), remote handling, surgical navigation and robotic surgery • Alternative techniques to surgery for tumour ablation: new non-ionizing percutaneous and transvascular techniques for tumour destruction guided by real time imaging: development of high-intensity ultrasound treatments, phototherapy, selective enzymatic activation • Multi-disciplinary, minimally invasive procedures: association of surgery, coelioscopy, endoscopy and interventional radiology for less invasive procedures that benefit from augmented reality • New methods of cancer detection: use of specific tumour markers, metabolic imaging and respiratory-gated image acquisition for correlation with the patient’s respiratory cycle. RESEARCH PROGRAMMES | The Scientific Committee has structured three major research programmes: FUTUROP: Real time intra-body navigation systems with therapeutic aims 1. Targeted intravascular navigation in real time 2. Ergonomics of the coelio-endoscopy operating room 3. Augmented reality and real time localization 4. Loco-regional intravascular chemotherapy DESTRUCTOND: Cancer destruction by waves 5. Inverse MRI, thermotherapy by focused radiofrequency energy 6. High-intensity, non-ionizing, focused ultrasound waves 7. Fluocancer – Macroscopic phototherapy 8. Fluocancer – Tissue-targeted phototherapy THEREVAL: Non-invasive therapeutic evaluation 9. Perfusion imaging and biomarkers IRTIC ended in May 2023.