- Co-funded by the EU’s Innovative Health Initiative (IHI), the research consortium is coordinated by Philips, together with Erasmus MC as academic lead, and will combine advanced medical imaging and minimally invasive techniques to transform treatment of bleedings and tumors in the brain.
- Five-year research program with total budget of EUR 38.4 million includes eight clinical studies to validate technical solutions for minimally invasive neurosurgery.
Brussels, Belgium – Cancer Patients Europe (CPE) today announced that the SEISMIC research consortium, coordinated by Philips, together with the Erasmus MC as academic lead, has been awarded funding from the Innovative Health Initiative (IHI) to transform neurosurgery through the seamless integration of minimally invasive surgical techniques and advanced imaging technologies. The EUR 23.5 million public funding will be complemented by EUR 14.9 million in in-kind contributions and additional resources from industry partners, supporting a five-year research and innovation program that also includes eight clinical studies.
CPE will contribute to the project by ensuring strong patient engagement and the integration of patient perspectives throughout its activities. Leveraging its extensive pan-European network, CPE will support the mapping and outreach of key stakeholders, including clinicians, healthcare decision-makers, and patients, to gather insights on barriers and enablers for scaling interventions across different healthcare settings. CPE will help ensure that implementation approaches are patient centric and responsive to the real-world needs of cancer patients. In addition, CPE will lead the development and delivery of training activities for physicians and patient experts, strengthening capacity for meaningful patient engagement and empowering patients to actively contribute to research, implementation, and decision-making processes.
‘This project is extremely important for patients, as advances in imaging-guided therapy and diagnosis, such as enabling brain tumor liquid biopsy, have the potential to transform how diseases are detected and treated. By reducing the burden of surgery and improving precision, these approaches have the potential to significantly enhance patients’ quality of life, both during treatment and in the long term. Cancer Patients Europe is a proud partner in SEISMIC that puts patient outcomes and quality of life at the centeռ of technological and clinical innovation.’- Francisco Lozano, Chair of the Board, Cancer Patients Europe
Innovation.
Innovation through public-private partnership
The SEISMIC public-private partnership comprises nine medical technology industry partners, two patient organizations and seven academic partners:
- Industry partners: Philips, Oldelft Ultrasound, DEMCON Curix, Yaskawa, us4us, Caresyntax, Surgical Science, Boston Scientific, and Bracco.
- Patient organizations: Fundacio Ictus (stroke) and Cancer Patients Europe.
- Academic partners: Erasmus MC, Erasmus University Rotterdam, University Medical Center Utrecht (UMCU), Radboud University Medical Center (Radboudumc), Hospital Clinic Barcelona (including IDIBAPS), Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), and University of Ljubljana.
The burden of neurological conditions and urgent minimally invasive treatment needs
Neurological conditions, including severe conditions such as bleedings deep in the brain (hemorrhagic stroke), chronic bleedings between the skull and the brain (subdural hematoma) and brain tumors are a leading cause of ill health, disability, and overall disease burden globally. Beyond health loss, neurological conditions drive substantial socioeconomic costs, from long-term care and healthcare expenditures to productivity loss and caregiver burden, intensified by population ageing.
While there have been significant advances in the field of neurosurgery, minimally invasive neurosurgical techniques continue to lag significantly behind other surgical disciplines. Current clinical procedures rely on large skull openings, optical and electromagnetic surgical navigation systems based on preoperative imaging, and fragmented intraoperative imaging, which disrupt surgical workflows and compromise precision. The SEISMIC project seeks to transform these potentially high-risk neurosurgical procedures into safer, faster, and more accessible interventions.
SEISMIC will develop an integrated suite of technologies, including real-time surgical navigation that combines ultrasound guidance with live X-ray imaging, highly realistic simulation platforms for clinician training, and minimally invasive biopsy and treatment techniques. SEISMIC will focus on three neurological conditions in which surgery is critical to patient survival and quality of life: intracerebral hemorrhage (bleeding deep within the brain also known as a hemorrhagic stroke), subdural hematoma (bleeding between the skull and the brain), and brain tumors (where surgery is essential for both diagnosis and treatment).
- Intracerebral hemorrhage: SEISMIC will explore how real-time ultrasound and X-ray imaging can guide a minimally invasive drainage device through a small skull opening to precisely reach and evacuate deep intracerebral bleeding
- Subdural hematoma: The team will investigate a single, image-guided procedure that combines hematoma drainage with embolization of the middle meningeal artery. This approach is important because bleeding recurs in approximately 30% of patients after surgery, and occluding the artery may help prevent recurrence.
- Brain tumor diagnosis: This typically requires open brain surgery to obtain a tissue sample for analysis. To reduce the need for surgery, SEISMIC will explore whether diagnostic information can be obtained through minimally invasive, focused ultrasound–enhanced liquid biopsy.
- Brain tumor treatment: The team will assess the use of cryoablation—an approach that uses extreme cold to destroy tissue—for the treatment of brain tumors. While cryoablation is already used for other cancers, brain tumors are typically removed via open surgery. In this approach, a cryoablation probe would be introduced through a small skull opening and guided to the tumor using X-ray and ultrasound imaging.
By reducing procedure times, minimizing surgical trauma, and accelerating patient recovery, the SEISMIC project aims to improve clinical outcomes and expand access to specialized neurosurgical care for currently underserved populations.
The SEISMIC website will be live soon: www.seismic-project.eu.
The CORDIS project page for SEISMIC. The IHI factsheet for SEISMIC.
This project is supported by the Innovative Health Initiative Joint Undertaking (IHI JU) under grant agreement No 101253085. The JU receives support from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation program and life science industries represented by COCIR, EFPIA, Europa Bío, MedTech Europe and Vaccines Europe. SEISMIC is funded by the European Union, private members, and those contributing partners of the IHI JU. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the aforementioned parties. Neither of the aforementioned parties can be held responsible for them.
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