CMR Surgical and Microsoft collaborate on health data storage trial

Clinical data from the Versius robotic system is stored on a Project Silica glass platter which can be preserved for more than 10,000 years.
By Tammy Lovell
12:08 pm
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Courtesy of CMR Surgical

Cambridge-based med tech firm CMR Surgical is collaborating with Microsoft on a proof of concept to store health data.

Clinical data from CMR’s surgical robot, Versius, was stored onto a 75x75mm Microsoft Project Silica glass platter.

The new archive storage technology from Microsoft can be safely preserved for more than 10,000 years.

Data from hundreds of surgical robotic procedures can be stored safely and securely into one Microsoft Project Silica glass platter and could ultimately be harnessed to improve patient outcomes.

WHY IT MATTERS

CMR is consistently collecting and analysing large amounts of anonymised data from its minimal access (MAS) surgeries. This data has the potential to help standardise surgery and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

While regular magnetic media can decay and be destroyed through a number of environmental factors such as EMP (electromagnetic pulse), water damage, heat, or abrasion, glass is not affected by EMP or water damage and is resilient to heat and abrasion.

Once data is written inside the Microsoft Project Silica glass platter it will not decay, opening the opportunity to challenge and completely rethink traditional storage system design.

Long term archival storage, enabled by Project Silica, permits the preservation of surgery data, including procedural videos and critical telemetric data. Over the long term, for example a surgeon’s entire career, this can be harnessed for future training and clinical study.

THE LARGER CONTEXT 

CMR recently announced the introduction of its Versius Surgical Robotic System into Australia and Germany.

Meanwhile, US-based developer of the Coral interventional robotics platform, Moray Medical, recently completed its seed round of $5.7 million led by European health tech investor Heal Capital.

Earlier this year, UK-based robotics company Freehand set out to crowdfund £1 million to expand its surgical camera controllers, while eCential Robotics gained almost €100 million funding to support its growth.

ON THE RECORD

Luke Hares, CMR chief technology officer, said: “Through this exciting trial with Microsoft, CMR has the opportunity to use a ground-breaking technology of the future to store a vast amount of clinical data safely and securely. This is important as collecting data across surgical practice will enable us to learn critical insights over time and realise our mission to make minimal access surgery available to everyone who could benefit.

“Working with Microsoft is a natural fit for CMR, as both companies are hugely passionate about realising the potential of data and technology to shape healthcare worldwide.”

Jurgen Willis, VP program management, Microsoft, said: “In this trial with CMR, Microsoft was able to demonstrate our innovation in long term archival storage. Long-term medical archival data can improve medical record management, enabling healthcare companies to help their patients more effectively. Working with CMR is an exciting milestone for Project Silica to learn more about long- term archival storage needs within the healthcare market.”

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