CICA is appointed Centre of Clinical Excellence

World-class research!

That was the enthusiastic assessment from the international expert panel who has granted Odense University Hospital’s Department of Surgery in Svendborg 1 mio. Euro for the establishment of CICA – Centre for Clinical Implementation of Capsule Endoscopy. The research centre will be a centre of clinical excellence; an honour for particularly qualified research centres.

Chairman of the Health Committee in the Region of Southern Denmark Poul-Erik Svendsen (S) says:
– It is very impressive that our researchers in Svendborg are leading in their field and therefore receive the honours. With this kind of honours, we wish to bring focus to and strengthen research in our region. Strong research environments attract skilled researchers, which elevate our clinical level. So these beacons are very important for us.

GREAT POTENTIAL FOR GENTLE SCREENING PROCEDURES

CICA will formalise and stregthen the close cooperation between researchers within the field of intestinal diseases and camera pill technology. Even though the centre will be physically placed in Svendborg, the research projects will work with hospitals from all over the region of Southern Denmark.

The purpose of the centre is to offer more “patient friendly” and cost-effective screening procedures. The camera pill will substitute a large number of uncomfortable colonoscopies; each year, the Region of Southern Denmark carries out 20,000 colonoscopies, and we expect to reduce the number by half with the camera pill screening.

Professor Gunnar Baatrup, head of CICA, says:
– We are very proud of the recognition that lies in the announcement of CICA as centre of excellence in the Region of Southern Denmark. It makes it possible for us to maintain our leading  position as first movers in this field, because we now have a more solid organisation with support for our researchers, who come from many different fields, such as medicine, surgery, software and hardware technology.

ABOUT CICA

CICA is a good example of how to bring clinical and technical research together to solve the challenges of the health sector.

The centre’s activities will be divided in seven different areas which will work on generic apects of the camera pill screening as well as more specific research in various patient groups. In addition, the centre will focus on development and use of artificial intelligence in relation to the camera pill screening. Professor Gunnar Baatrup is head of CICA.

The official opening of the centre is 16th January 2020.