Project ELISE

 In pediatric intensive-care medicine, physicians are confronted with the problem that diseases are sometimes difficult to recognize and may also take a different course. Aimed at supporting the medical staff, the ELISE research project was initiated. The existing patient data management system already stores important patient data such as recorded vital parameters, laboratory values, medication administration and diagnoses and makes this information available at any time for treatment and nursing. ELISE is able to interpret these values, to recognize pathological conditions and inform the medical staff in critical situations. The project was initiated by the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM.

The Fraunhofer ITEM Project Group for Bioinformatics, headed by Prof. Lena Wiese, has developed a machine learning method for this purpose. The focus here is on the development of incremental (i.e. stepwise) and proactive learning algorithms. An explanation component is planned to be included to help users understand the results provided by the algorithms. It is based on the comparative evaluation of a large number of machine learning methods, so that a decision will not be founded on just a single method. “This comparative evaluation of different methods based on the available training data as well as flexible data pre-processing methods on the one hand are to identify the most suitable methods and on the other hand to prove the reproducibility, explainability and transparency of the algorithms,” explains Prof. Wiese.

In 2021, ELISE received the Lower Saxony Health Award. In the third award category, "eHealth - digitally supported in treatment, care, and rehabilitation," the project impressed as a "Learning and Interoperable, Smart Expert System for Pediatric Intensive Care Medicine".