The University Medical Center Utrecht is one of the largest public healthcare institutions in the Netherlands. With almost 10,000 employees, UMC Utrecht is constantly building on the provision of good healthcare services, based on the right people and knowledge. One of the UMC Utrecht’s core activities is performing cutting-edge scientific research from “bench to bedside”.
The Department of Clinical Physics of the UMC has a unique position in the hospital between research and clinical applications. The people in the department are motivated to improve patient care and patient safety. They are closely working with the medical professionals in patient care e.g. assisting in the OR. They translate the needs for improvement in patient care and safety to innovative solutions with the technology available. In close cooperation with clinicians, they have developed several unique surgical procedures e.g. bypass surgery in the brain (ELANA technique) and laser assisted endoscopic hydrocephalus treatment. The Department of Clinical Physics is internationally recognized as expert center for medical laser research. They have developed unique visualization techniques and high speed imaging techniques including thermal imaging. Using these imaging techniques, the action mechanism of surgical devices have been studied like the CUSA, ultrasound induced cavitation for aspiration of tumor tissue from the brain. The department has also a large expertise in laser delivery systems and modifications of fiber tips to guide the laser light to the target. They have developed new delivery systems that enabled unique surgical procedures in e.g. neurosurgery. For infrared lasers, they performed studies on fiber based delivery systems. More recently the department of Clinical Physics started projects in advanced multi-spectral imaging systems to improve the sight of the surgeons and the detection and diagnosis of malignant tissues.