Open-Source Software for Surgical Technologies: Challenges and opportunities

Slides (CC BY-SA 4.0) https://tinyurl.com/ucl-osa-2023-mx

Miguel Xochicale, PhD

ARC/WEISS at UCL

25th of October 2023

My background

  • Research assistance in Robotics at INAOE Mexico (2012-2013)

    • Discovered GitHub and became an open-source enthusiast!

  • Ph.D. in Computer Engineering from University of Birmingham (2014-2018)

    • Published the first open access PhD thesis

  • Two postdocs at BMEIS at KCL (2019-2022)

    • Lead author of open-source code and demo data in US imaging

  • Research Engineer at ARC/WEISS at UCL (Oct 2022 - present)

    • Lead software developer of open AI frameworks in SurgTech

Open-source software libraries for computer assisted surgery

Challenges

Research-driven technologies bring challenges with the use of the latest generation of software and hardware;

  • Fast prototyping and validation of new algorithms,

  • Fragmented source code for heterogeneous systems,

  • High performance of medical image computing and visualisation in the operating room, and

  • Data privacy and data quality standardisation.

Questions

How to make open-source software libraries:.

  • more sustainable (e.g., maintenence),

  • long-term supported (e.g., funding), and

  • translatable to the clinic (e.g, quality standards).

Online talks

Panel discussion

  • Discussed trends and the future of Surgical Technologies on how to quickly adopt the latest technologies while still complying with relevant quality standards.

  • How can we address a balance between algorithm development and tool development?

  • How to foster community engagement with developers, academics, clinitians, and industry professionals?

  • Do we require additional training to accelerate clinical translation?

White paper

Group photo

Takeaways

  • Participants of the workshop were exposed to leading authors of state-of-the-art open-source platforms for Surgical Technologies

  • Created a forum, drafted a white-paper and currently brainstorming plans to organise similar events.

  • Created GitHub organisation to host open source event, discussions, slides and white paper.

  • Visit https://github.com/oss-for-surgtech

Acknowledgements

  • Advanced Research Computing Centre (ARC)

Stephen Thompson
  • Wellcome / EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS)

Matt Clarkson and Thomas Dowrick