It’s called e-Lisa and stands for e-Learning Interactive Surgeon Assistant, a set of algorithms capable of providing surgeons with automated fracture diagnosis and relative indication for treatment. It is the flagship project of the eponymous startup born in 2016 in Naples and which operates in the field of orthopedics and traumatology, fruit of the meeting between Dr. Fabrizio Fiorentino, expert in digital transformation, prof. Raffaele Russo, orthopedic surgeon and traumatologist, and engineer Livia Pietroluongo, expert in creating mathematical models. “Making startups in the south is not easy, and in particular, making a biotech startup is not. Because it has a longer processing time, ”explains Dot. Florentine. In February, the patent for the system also arrived, which benefits from the collaboration with the Federico II University of Naples – in particular with Icaros (Interdepartmental Center for Advances in Robotic Surgery) and Prisca Lab (Intelligent Robotics and Systems Projects cognitive skills)) and the support of the Pineta Grande hospital group in Castel Volturno

How e-Lisa works

“Today, if we receive a CT scan, our system can tell us in a few minutes the severity of a fracture and offer the most suitable tools to treat it. For example, it indicates to the surgeon the size of the screws, the most suitable prosthetic instruments. “E-LISA is primarily involved in very complex procedures, such as bone reconstructions, grafts or prosthetic implants, for which it passes. also through the creation of personalized, biocompatible medical devices, modeled and then printed in 3D.

“This device is required of us by surgeons to perform cuts or perforations in an extremely precise and precise manner. Until yesterday, the surgeon had his hands free, which obviously put him at risk. Today, however, by planning the surgery and having a device tailored to that particular patient, a higher level of precision is achieved and patients obviously benefit ”.

With e-Lisa, less pressure on hospitals

In addition to affecting the outcome of the intervention, e-Lisa also helps ease the pressure on hospitals, a fundamental aspect as we have learned in this year and a half of the pandemic. It is the system itself, once the tac is entered, to suggest how the invoice should be operated. And it allows surgeons to understand if it needs to be treated surgically or if conservative treatment needs to be done.

“The negative cases of these interventions come to us, where perhaps it was possible not to operate, cases which are sometimes badly operated”, explains Dr. Florentin. As happened to an elderly lady who, after slipping on vacation in Cuba and breaking her humerus, had an operation there. “When the lady returned to Italy and decided to have the operation, we discovered a complex situation. We created a surgical guide to be able to make a shoulder prosthesis implant and the lady regained almost total mobility of her arm. When she came to our house, she could barely move, she had braces blocking her arm. After the operation, however, she managed to make all the movement. We were very excited, she came here, to our studio, and in tears she called us her angels because we were able to restore her to a normal condition of life ”.

But not only: “The other operation performed at Rizzoli in Bologna – he says – concerned a very young boy with a very serious deformity of the arm. Here too, thanks to the creation of two made-to-measure surgical guides, we were able to resolve the deformation and provide the patient with an elbow angle that is no longer pathological “.

3d printing

e-Lisa has developed an operative preparation service which, for the most complex cases, also involves the creation of a custom-made medical device, modeled and then printed in 3D, using technologies allowing the creation of a biocompatible device. In particular, surgeons ask us to make cuts or punctures extremely precisely and precisely. Without these devices until yesterday, the surgeon passed by a show of hands, which obviously exposed him to risks. Instead, today, by planning the surgery and having a device tailored to that particular patient, a higher level of precision is achieved and patients obviously benefit.