Monday, 20 January 2020 11:22

Hamburg: New training model HANNES for aneurysm treatment training without animal suffering Featured

A research team from the Technical University of Hamburg (TUHH) and from the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE), Hamburg, has developed a new method to eliminate the need for animal experiments for the treatment simulation of cerebrovascular aneurysms.


Brain vessel aneurysms are bulges in blood vessels that can burst inside the vessel due to the constant blood pressure. The result is a life-threatening cerebral hemorrhage.

So far, education and training courses for the necessary operations of the affected vessels on the brain took place on animals such as rabbits or pigs. In order to enable training operations without animal experiments, the ELBE-NTM team from the Institute for Product Development and Design Technology as well as from the Institute for Microsystems Technology of the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and from the University Medical Center Eppendorf (UKE) has developed the model HANNES (Hamburg Anatomical neuro-interventional simulation model), in which patient-based aneurysms can be reproduced exactly and simulated with the help of a 3D printer. The simulation model offers the possibility to exchange individual vessel sections during the training and to treat different patient-specific anatomies with aneurysms.

In the context of the call "Alternative methods to animal testing", the project, named "ELBE-NTM - Development and Evaluation of a Patient-Based Neurointerventional Training Model" was awarded almost one million euros from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research.

Further information:
https://idw-online.de/de/news730149
https://www.tuhh.de/pkt/forschung/methodische-entwicklung-modularer-produktfamilien/elbe-ntm.html