Financing: Internal Funding KU Leuven (KU Leuven)

Project reference Nr.: IDN/24/013
Start: 2024-09-01
End: 2028-08-31

Description:

After inguinal hernia repair, up to 10% of patients develop chronic groin pain (CPIP) which is difficult to treat and has a huge impact on quality of life. So prevention is key. FLIPR (FLemish Inguinal and femoral hernia Prospective Registry) involves 57 surgeons in 21 hospitals belonging to VZN KULeuven. A large dataset has already been collected focusing on a standardized operation report and PROMS to map incidence and pre-/intraoperative risk factors of CPIP. With Machine Learning techniques we will develop AI models which can accurately predict this risk, to help guide patients/surgeons whether or not to operate, and to suggest the most optimal technique. We want to develop ethical norms and a proof- of-concept software tool complying with the EU MDR/other laws for software as medical device. This will be a use case for developing other software tools on risk prediction in health care.

SMC people involved in the project:

• Jan De Bruyne (Co-promoter)
• Marc Miserez (Coordinator)
• Bart De Moor (Promoter)