Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related death in both men and women, in Norway and worldwide. Early and accurate diagnosis is crucial for treatment outcomes. Many tumors are located peripherally in the lungs and are difficult to reach with conventional bronchoscopy equipment.
MiDT Lung is a long-term R&D program in which SINTEF and St. Olavs Hospital collaborate to develop, validate, and commercialize new technology for bronchoscopy planning and guidance. SINTEF contributes software development, artificial intelligence (AI), and medical image analysis.
Examples of what we are developing:
- Fraxinus – open-source platform for CT-based bronchoscopy planning and simulation, with virtual bronchoscopy and EBUS simulator
- AI-driven navigation – position estimation in the airway tree from bronchoscopy video and CT
- EBUS-AI – automatic detection and classification of lymph nodes in endobronchial ultrasound images
- BIG LUNG – database of radiological and clinical data from more than 2,300 lung cancer patients, used for development and validation of AI models for diagnostics and prognosis
- New ultrasound technology – for image-guided biopsy of peripheral lung lesions
The project publishes scientific articles annually and contributes to the training of PhD candidates and master's students. Results are transferred to clinical practice and industry.