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The start of construction of the Radiological Intervention Center at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg was celebrated at the beginning of December / State-of-the-art imaging enables complex minimally invasive procedures

On Thursday, December 8, 2022, the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Radiological Intervention Center (RIZ) was held at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. The RIZ is due to open in spring 2024. In future, minimally invasive outpatient procedures will take place there, as well as care for patients from the emergency center and the intensive care and normal wards of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg. The Medical Center - University of Freiburg is investing a total of around 8.7 million euros. The overall project is being managed by the hospital's own Construction and Development Planning department. The low-rise building will fit perfectly into the hospital campus: In the inner courtyard between the Medical Clinic and the University Emergency Center, the RIZ will be directly connected to the existing footbridge between the two buildings.

The Radiological Intervention Center will create a central unit for minimally invasive procedures under the control of state-of-the-art imaging. Patients with cancer or vascular changes, such as children with congenital vascular malformations, can benefit from this. "This type of facility is unique in Baden-Württemberg. It will enable us to provide the highest level of medical care to significantly more people than before," said Prof. Dr. Frederik Wenz, Chief Medical Officer of the Medical Center - University of Freiburg, at the ground-breaking ceremony.

Large number of patients will benefit

The RIZ is headed by Prof. Dr. Wibke Uller, Head of Interventional Radiology at the Department of Radiology at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg (Medical Director: Prof. Dr. Fabian Bamberg). In a radiological intervention, a procedure is carried out under the control of an imaging procedure using very fine instruments, usually via a vascular access or directly through the skin. This allows tumors to be treated and tissue samples to be taken to confirm the diagnosis. Vessels can be opened in the event of blockages or closed in the event of active bleeding. This often avoids or supplements costly operations.

"One of our specialties is the treatment of vascular malformations in children, for which patients travel from all over Germany," says Uller. Children in particular are operated on under anaesthetic, which is why the facilities have been optimally designed together with the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg (Medical Director: Prof. Dr. Hartmut Bürkle).

New therapy methods thanks to hybrid system

Two of the three planned intervention units will contain a modern angiography system. One unit will be equipped with a mobile computer tomography (CT) scanner that can be moved between the treatment rooms. Together with the angiography system, this will create an angiography-CT hybrid system that will allow physicians to use both devices in combination during an intervention.

"In the hybrid system, all treatment steps that currently require patients to be moved between interventions can take place in one room," explains Bamberg. For example, a liver tumor with a high blood supply can first be cut off from the blood supply using angiography and then ablated, i.e. sclerosed, in the same session under CT guidance. Quality control and any adjustments to the treatment can also be carried out immediately. In patients with multiple severe injuries, the hybrid system makes it possible to detect internal bleeding on CT and close it directly using a catheter.

Captions:

Image 1: Groundbreaking ceremony for the Radiological Intervention Center (RIZ) at the Medical Center - University of Freiburg: Georg Hornung, Meurer Bau in the Vogel Group and from the Medical Center - University of Freiburg Thomas Kopietz, Project Manager Construction and Development Planning, Prof. Dr. Fabian Bamberg, Medical Director of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care (CMO), Prof. Dr. Wibke Uller, Head of Interventional Radiology, Prof. Dr. Frederik Wenz, Chief Medical Officer, and Prof. Dr. Hartmut Bürkle, Medical Director of the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care (from left to right).
Image rights: Medical Center - University of Freiburg

Image 2: The RIZ will be located in the immediate vicinity of the University Emergency Center and the Medical Center - University of Freiburg (square building in the middle of the image).
Image rights: Nickl and Partner