"The Valencian Institute of Competitiveness and Innovation (IVACE+i) grants Avamed Synergy the approval and financing of a new innovation project."

The project aims to investigate and validate a new preoperative non-invasive technique for the measurement of small bowel loops in Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) bariatric surgery, optimising its approach and accuracy in surgical practice.

The biotech company Avamed Synergy, located in the Digital District (Alicante), once again obtains approval and funding from the Valencian Institute of Competitiveness and Innovation (IVACE+i) for another of its projects. On this occasion, an R&D development in the approach to bariatric surgery in an increasingly prevalent disease, obesity.

Amongst other actions, IVACE-i explores high-impact collaborative initiatives to address challenges of common interest and promotes, between other actions, projects that enhance the consolidation of the entire business value chain. In addition, it promotes the intensification of the use of knowledge by companies and innovative public procurement as an instrument for the development of technologies and innovations aimed at improving the quality and efficiency of public services.

The programmes set in motion in this resolution have been drawn up with the aim of developing the measures relating to business R&D&I in the Regional and State Strategies for Science, Technology and Innovation. It also pursues the policy objective << A more competitive and smarter Europe, promoting innovative and intelligent economic transformation and regional ICT connectivity >> of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) for the period 2021-2027.

This grant is 60% funded by the European Union, within the EDF programme of the Valencian Community 2021-2027. The ERDF assistance will be calculated by multiplying the eligible expenditure of the operation by the 60% financing rate.

The starting point for the project is obesity, a disease that is becoming increasingly prevalent and is considered the epidemic of the 21st century by the World Health Organisation (WHO). It is a chronic disease that severely affects the quality of life and life expectancy of patients. Currently, bariatric surgery is the most effective long-term treatment option for weight reduction and remission of associated comorbidities.

So far, in bariatric surgery of patients with morbid obesity, if possible, small bowel loops are measured intraoperatively, implying a high risk for the patient as it is performed manually, being very imprecise and giving rise to errors and uncontrolled consequences.

In this sense, Avamed Synergy initiates a research project for the development and clinical applicability of mixed reality systems in certain fields of advanced laparoscopic surgery, as is the case of bariatric surgery, to subsequently see its long-term clinical implications. The main objective of the project is to investigate the validity of a new technique in preoperative planning and testing in a mixed reality environment.

The project is a challenge for the clinic and a great scientific-technological challenge for Avamed Synergy, since it enters into the search for new knowledge for a more accurate and reliable measurement of the length of the small bowel loops through the experimental development of new technology that allows it. It will be a major breakthrough for the European medical-surgical community and a technological leap forward that will provide promising results.