Medicine of tomorrow
The University Hospital Düsseldorf is one of the best hospitals in the world – not only in terms of patient care, but also in terms of its innovative research projects. A look behind the scenes.
n April 2019, the American magazine Newsweek, in cooperation with the statistics database “Statistica”, named the University Hospital Düsseldorf (UKD) one of the best 1,000 hospitals worldwide. In North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), too, it is accordingly one of the most important medical centres in the region. The UKD and its subsidiaries are also an important employer for the state capital and its catchment area - 9,500 staff are employed here to ensure the health of over 50,000 inpatients and a total of 300,000 outpatients every year. Under the umbrella of the UKD there are 60 clinics and institutes that stand for international excellence in the medical sector. “This is how the medicine of tomorrow is created at the UKD. Every day,” explains Tobias Pott, responsible for press relations at the UKD.
There are several areas, not only nationally, in which the UKD particularly stands out. “Our cardiology and heart surgery are also internationally leading clinics. In conjunction with neurology, neurosurgery, vascular medicine and diabetology, there is above all an interdisciplinary approach at the UKD that is rare in this form,” says Tobias Pott. A new research building is currently being planned: the “translational science building for cardiovascular research in diabetes” (CARDDIAB). The background to this is that most people with diabetes die as a result of cardiovascular diseases and more than 50 percent of all patients with acute heart attacks already suffer from glucose metabolism disorders or subsequently develop diabetes.
The UKD is one of the most important medical centres in North Rhine-Westphalia and treats over 50,000 inpatients every year.
The UKD also relies on teamwork in cancer medicine. With the “Centre for Integrated Oncology - Aachen, Bonn, Cologne, Düsseldorf”, it is a member of the first cancer centre in Germany, under whose umbrella four university hospitals have agreed on common treatment standards and research goals. “The coronavirus pandemic has also once again shown the great importance of our gastroenterology/infectiology and virology departments, which have contributed quite significantly to research on COVID-19,” says Tobias Pott. One example is a pilot study that scientists from Heinrich Heine University and the UKD are conducting in cooperation with the public health department of the city of Düsseldorf on transmission routes of the coronavirus through real-time sequencing: All new infections are sequenced within 48 hours at the Centre for Medical Microbiology, Hospital Hygiene and Virology at the HHU and the data is made available to the public health department.
In order to be able to optimally implement modern medicine, the UKD is focusing on digitalisation. Europe's first 5G medical campus has been in development since the beginning of May. The key project is funded by the NRW state government. “Giga for Health” is building the data network in such a way that the UKD will soon be able to access the fastest data transmission technology for medical applications in patient care, research and teaching, and will thus be considered a driving force for other hospitals in NRW. Fast and digital technology can save lives: The so-called monitoring patches, which in emergency medicine are used to stick a technology patch on the patient's skin, can independently send their vital signs in real time to a central patient monitoring unit via the 5G network. Fast data transmission is also a game changer in computer-assisted tumour surgery: in so-called “mixed reality”, highly complex 3D structures of the brain can be virtually projected into space by the computer, allowing surgeons to better orient themselves.
The Digital Health Lab is also focusing on the full potential of digitalisation in medicine. In the Clinic for Cardiac Surgery, it works at the interface with research. The focus is on improving the training of doctors, their support in diagnosis, treatment and patient care, as well as communication with patients. The Digital Health Lab Düsseldorf uses technologies such as mixed and virtual reality, 3D visualisations and AI methods. “In the future, when medical students learn about the heart, they will be able to look inside the organ with VR glasses using the applications researched here. Or the surgeon at the operating table will see additional information about the operating area live in his mixed reality glasses,” explains Tobias Pott.
Highly complex interventions on vessels and tumours can be performed in a hybrid operating theatre. The surgeon constantly has a 3D image of the inside of the body in front of his eyes.
The interdisciplinary work of the total of 60 clinics and institutes and the close exchange with the HHU contribute significantly to the research successes of the UKD.
The UKD was one of the first hospitals in Germany to treat COVID-19 patients in February 2020. Even today, the virus still determines everyday life here in many areas. Accordingly, there are research projects and publications related to the pandemic in some disciplines. The SERODUS studies of the Institute of Virology on COVID-19 antibodies in young people from Düsseldorf and fire and rescue service personnel are exciting. The results confirm an underreporting rate that supports the importance of targeted protection and testing strategies. The research of the Institute for Medical Sociology is also highly regarded, which, for example, deals with the risk of infection of different population groups: according to this, long-term unemployed people have to be treated in hospital more often with a coronavirus infection.
“In the future, when medical students learn
about the heart, they will be able to look inside
the organ with VR glasses”
In addition, there are overarching research projects on COVID-19, such as in the VIRAL network: The Virus Alliance NRW VIRAL coordinates the virology departments at six universities in NRW in its office at the UKD and networks their research on SARS-CoV2 in different areas. The entire project is financed by the state of NRW.
In order to be able to optimally implement modern medicine, the UKD focuses on digitalisation. Europe's first 5G medical campus has been under construction since the beginning of May.
Innovative research projects depend not least on the next generation of researchers. Startup4Med has taken up the cause of finding and promoting young talent. Within the project, young entrepreneurs and start-up teams from the University Medical Centre Düsseldorf receive support from coaches who accompany them, for example, with fundamental questions and challenges on the way to setting up a business. The Startup4MED project is funded as part of the EXIST programme of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, which supports start-ups at universities and research institutions as well as scientific start-ups. The best prerequisites for the UKD to continue to represent the medicine of tomorrow! •
Words: Katja Vaders
Pictures: UKD