The Clinic of Radiology offers a complete coverage of the body imaging, with radiologists divided into subspecialties (musculo-skeletal imaging-MSK, oncologic imaging, urogenital imaging, women’s imaging, thoracic imaging, abdominal imaging, pediatric imaging, interventional radiology), to enhance specific skills and competence, in clinics and in research.
The research topics include transversal and longitudinal topics.
Transversal research topics refer to innovative technology, body composition and evidence based medicine. Longitudinal research topics pertain to the single abovementioned subspecialties.
The main longitudinal research topics of the Clinics of Radiology are the following:
- The radiologists dedicated to MSK, are conducting projects, with the objective of improving image quality without prolonging the time of acquisition, with the help of artificial intelligence mediated approaches. Furthermore, the advanced technology of the Institute allows to test and use new technologies, developments and sequences aiming to a better understanding of different features of muscles, tendons, ligaments and nerves, such as (but not limited to) diffusion tensor imaging and Dixon sequences.- The radiologists dedicated to oncologic imaging are conducting research projects with the aim of understanding how quantitative imaging of body composition is associated with clinically relevant outcomes in cancer patients. With this end, different approaches are under evaluation and are the core of many ongoing research projects, one of which funded by the Swiss Cancer League and dedicated to the effects on body composition of specific treatments in prostate cancer patients. The group dedicated to oncologic imaging is also involved in national and international collaborations (ESUR, EORTC) evaluating artificial intelligence mediated approaches for prognostication in different cancer settings.
- The radiologists of the breast imaging team are involved in the research projects of the CSSI (Centro di Senologia della Svizzera Italiana) as well as in international multicenter studies. Part of the team is developing systematic reviews and meta-analyses in the high-risk breast lesions field and is leading or co-leading research studies related to the use of large language models in breast imaging.
- The interventional radiologists are conducting monocentric as well as multicentric research projects, with the objective of improving the standard of care for patients undergoing percutaneous vascular and non-vascular procedures for vascular and oncologic diseases. Furthermore, the advanced technology of the Institute allows testing and using new tools and techniques to treat complex pathologies as aortic dissections and thoraco-abdominal aneurysms.
The main research topics of the Clinic of Nuclear Medicine refer to:
- PET radiomics and predictive imaging of lymphomas
Development and validation of new PET metrics, radiomic analysis and artificial Intelligence tools. Collaborations: IELSG, SAKK, IOR, IOSI, Amsterdam University Medical Centre, Federazione Italiana Linfomi, United Kingdom Cancer Research Institute.Integration of PET/CT data, biological and genomic features (i.e. liquid biopsy) using Radiomics, Genomics and Artificial Intelligence tools to model new diagnostic/ prognostic approaches. Collaborations: IELSG, SAKK, IOR, IOSI, Amsterdam University Medical Centre, Federazione Italiana Linfomi, United Kingdom Cancer Research Institute. - TheragnosticsResearch activities in theragnostic field for the Therapy working group of the Swiss Society of Nuclear Medicine (SGNM) particularly focused on prostate cancer and neuroendocrine tumors. Collaborations with Universitatsspital Bern, Novartis/AAA.Personalized dosimetry studies focused on selective internal radiotherapy with Y-90. Collaborations with Istituto Nazionale Tumori Milan, Boston Scientific and Mirada group.
- Evidence-based nuclear medicineProduction of evidence-based documents and evidence-based guidelines on nuclear medicine. Collaborations: European Association of Nuclear Medicine, EORTC, University of Lausanne, University of Brescia, University of Mashhad, Fondazione Policlinico A. Gemelli Rome, Candiolo Cancer Institute, Ospedali Galliera Genoa.Research activities for the PET working group of the Swiss Society of Nuclear Medicine focused on the achievement of reimbursement for new PET indications.