News Release

October 25, 2019

Contributing to the Quality Consistency,Safety, and Efficiency of Endoscopic Surgery“The Research and Development of Advanced Information-Assisted EndoscopicSurgery System” selected as a subsidized project by the Japan Agency for
Medical Research and Development
Olympus, a global technology leader in designing and delivering innovative solutions for
medical and surgical procedures, among other core businesses, announced today thedevelopment of the “Digital transformation for surgery: advanced information-assisted
endoscopic surgery system,” which provides the information that helps to ensure safe andconsistent quality of surgery by translating the tacit knowledge of skilled physicians in theendoscopic surgery field into data through AI analysis. This developmental theme was selected
as a subsidized project by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development (AMED).
The work will be conducted by 2023 at the latest in collaboration with the National Cancer
Center Hospital East, Oita University’s Faculty of Medicine, Fukuoka Institute of Technology’s
Faculty of Information Engineering, and the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Engineering(Graduate School of Engineering) as research and development contributors. It aims for its
practical application in 2024 onward.
Under the X INNOVATION (cross innovation) concept, Olympus will continuously promote an
open innovation approach—sharing findings with academic and industry leadership whereappropriate—for the realization of future surgical procedures.
The Background of the Development
The number of endoscopic surgery cases is growing, as better outcomes such as earlypost-surgery recovery lead to improvements in patient quality of life. On the other hand, there
is an environmental gap among regions and facilities in the availability of advanced
technologies and facilities, as well as skilled surgeons and medical staff. For this reason,
there is a disparity in the surgical outcomes among surgeons and facilities. Eliminating thisdisparity is an urgent challenge. The development of an Advanced Information-assisted
Endoscopic Surgery System aims to facilitate consistent quality of surgery, ensure safety, andachieve the efficient use of operating rooms.

Overview of the Information-assisted Endoscopic Surgery System
1.

The Information Rich Platform: Decision Assistance
Adding an information-assisted software library (Information Rich Real-time Library)created for various types of surgical and medical teams allows the endoscopic surgery
system to provide visual information to the surgeons and to provide support to its
medical teams.
Depending on the progress of each surgery, risk factors such as anatomy, blood vessels,
tumor position, anatomic landmark, and bleeding will be displayed using AI and otherrelated technologies. Critical information during the surgery can be shared amongst themedical team.

2.

The Autonomous View Control: Visual Field Control AssistanceIn accordance with the progress and operational image state estimated by theInformation Rich Platform, this system will autonomously control endoscopes using AIand other related technologies, securing the visual field that makes it easier for surgeons
to conduct surgery.

3.

The Active Device Control: Surgical Device Control AssistanceThis system collects information on the treatment and access to the treatment area
during surgery, along with information on surgical progress and the types and conditionsof tissues, which are estimated by the Information Rich Platform. This enables theoptimal strength and energy output of surgical devices to be applied to the target tissue.
The assist of AI and other technologies has the potential to reduce risk and better enablesafe and smooth treatment during operations.

-2-System diagrams

Visual Field Control
Assistance

Decision Assistance

Surgical Device Control
Assistance

Information support examples in accordance with the surgery progress

Information support for dissection
XX Fascia

Dissection annotation function

Information support forvisual field control

XX Artery

Vessel display function

Detection of the blood point

Information support for surgical device control

XXoC

Optimal viewing field control

Traction direction
suggestion function-3-

Energy device-recommended
output information

Research and Development Organization
1.

The Information Rich Platform: Decision Assistance Olympus National Cancer Center Hospital East (Research representative: Masaaki Ito,Department of Colorectal Cancer Surgery) Faculty of Medicine, Oita University (Research representative: Masafumi Inomata,professor)
 Faculty of Information Engineering, Fukuoka Institute of Technology (Researchrepresentative: Tatsushi Tokuyasu, professor)

2.

Autonomous View Control: Visual Field Control Assistance Olympus National Cancer Center Hospital East

3.

Active Device Control: Surgical Device Control Assistance Olympus
 Faculty of Engineering, University of Tokyo Graduate School of Engineering (Researchrepresentative: Ichiro Sakuma, professor)

Olympus celebrated its 100th anniversary on October 12th of this year.
We would like to thank all of our customers and stakeholders who have supported
the company's development throughout the years.
We look forward to continuing the tradition of contributing to society through
Making people's lives healthier, safer and more fulfilling.

-4-