The topics over whom The Rizzoli Orthopaedics’ Institute will work on for four years are: wearable sensors to identify risk patients, digital twins to manage osteoporosis and arthrosis, analysis of fracture risk in patients with bone tumors, 3D personalized print for the realignment of the knee, prevention of patient’s ulcers with diabetic foot. This will be part of the DARE project, presented by The University of Bologna that is the coordinator of the project that is funded by the Ministry of University and Research with National NRRP funds.

DARE’s goal is to develop digital services to apply in the field of health prevention, by integrating in care’s programs different digital technologies, like diagnostic imaging, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data and supercomputers. The new digital services realized by this project aim to prevent and promote health and health safety across the country.

“The Rizzoli guides six projects with a value of EUR 4,2 million – as explain Ing. Alberto Leardini, Director of the Lab of Laboratory of Movement Analysis and Functional Evaluation of Prosthesis. He is one of the three main nationally researches of DARE’s projects about secondary and tertiary prevention (principal investigator) and the institutional referent. The distinctive feature of Rizzoli’s commitment, in this important scientific initiative, is the data collection and use to provide and prevent health related risks in the orthopaedic field. For example, one of the projects wants to realized and to test wearable sensors, which are easy to use and cheap. These sensors are common in specialist centres across the country and they lead to collect data to carry out evaluation of mobility, identifying risk patients at early stages with easy to use tools that can be provided by health facilities in a widespread manner, making like that as close as possible the first patient’s control.”

The coordination of DARE’s activities about enhancement of technologic services, like infrastructures and super software, is given to Professor Marco Viceconti, Director of Medical Technology Laboratory, who is the aim researcher.

Infrastructures and super software are the main tools for data analysis that allows a personalized prevention.  In the vision of the project, it is tailored to the individual but available for millions of people.

“DARE’s project brings out Rizzoli’s role as IRCCS, scientific Institute of hospitalization and care, reference for the most innovative perspectives of personalized medicine – says Milena Fini, scientific director of Rizzoli – We work every day in hospital and lab to improve quality of care that we offer to patients and this is an extraordinary opportunity to express the potential of our research team.”