The European Society of Minimally Invasive Neurological Therapy (ESMINT) has announced that the Philips-coordinated SHERPA research consortium will initiate seven clinical studies intended to demonstrate the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI)- and robotic-assisted workflows in minimally invasive treatments for brain aneurysms as well as liver tumours.
“Through SHERPA, we are aligning technological innovation with clinical expertise to improve precision and patient care in neurointervention,” commented ESMINT president Anne-Christine Januel (Toulouse University Hospital, Toulouse, France).
As noted in a recent press release from ESMINT, staff shortages coupled with the complex nature of their work place significant pressure on interventional radiologists and neuroradiologists. By providing interventionists with AI-powered assistive technologies that can automate repetitive tasks and support decision-making across the entire workflow, the SHERPA project aims to alleviate these pressures while also accelerating learning curves, and improving the precision and safety of the minimally invasive interventions used to repair brain aneurysms and ablate liver tumours.
ESMINT’s recent release details that, during its first year, SHERPA successfully developed AI algorithms to help identify brain aneurysms that need treatment, and algorithms to optimise patient selection and therapy planning for liver tumour ablation. The consortium also developed robotic technology to improve procedural precision and reduce difficulty as well as AI software to confirm treatment success. These innovations have now been integrated into orchestrated, end-to-end workflows for both procedures.
Over the remaining three years of the four-year SHERPA project, the consortium’s partners plan to conduct a series of clinical studies to refine these assistive technologies and assess their benefits in terms of patient experience, workload optimisation, interventionist satisfaction, and performance.
The following five studies relating to brain aneurysms will focus on AI-driven detection, risk prediction and precise treatment planning:
- RADAR—AI-powered aneurysm detection based on computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging
- Aneurysm@risk—AI-based algorithms to predict aneurysm growth and rupture risk
- ASSIST—AI-supported device selection and positioning guidance
- INTERACT—automatic collimation and projection angle suggestions to optimise imaging for procedural guidance
- SAFO—evaluation of a digital solution for the remote follow-up of brain aneurysm patients, enabling standardised monitoring and enhanced coordination across the care pathway
Two further studies on liver and lung tumours will leverage advanced imaging and robotic-assisted biopsy technologies, respectively, with MISTRAL evaluating new cone-beam CT workflows to optimise imaging for percutaneous liver ablations and RHODES comparing robotic-assisted versus free-hand lung biopsies with a focus on operability and device efficiency.
The four-year SHERPA research project is being co-funded by industry partners through in-kind contributions and additional resources, as well as by the EU Innovative Health Initiative (IHI), and comprises 16 partners spanning seven European countries. ESMINT’s engagement in SHERPA is said to ensure “strong alignment with clinical practice” and the needs of neurointerventional teams across Europe, with the society set to leverage its scientific expertise and professional network to support the validation and dissemination of SHERPA innovations within the interventional neuroradiology (INR) community.
The SHERPA public-private partnership consortium—which was recently featured during a dedicated session at the 2026 European Congress of Radiology (ECR; 4–8 March, Vienna, Austria)—comprises five medical technology industry partners, five academic partners, and five research organisation and medical association partners. Industry partners Philips, Medtronic, Barco, Interventional Systems and Sim&Cure are joined by leading medical institutions from the Netherlands, Germany, France and Spain. Additional organisations contributing to the project alongside ESMINT include the European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research (EIBIR) and the Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE).
