Specialization and superspecialization have made education and industrial activity more complex. As more products appear on the market, particularly those related to healthcare IT, interoperability must be tested. Furthermore, because an increasing variety of professionals are involved in patient care, modern teaching centers must embrace both medics and managers, basing their programs on the entire treatment process and a wide range of industrial products.
At the Academy for Medical Training and Simulation (AMTS) in Lucerne, Switzerland, medical and nonmedical healthcare professionals are able to learn and train in such a patient management process.
"AMTS is a neutral, interdisciplinary and interindustrial learning and meeting platform, capable of simulating diagnostic and therapeutic actions in a hospital-like environment," said surgeon and AMTS CEO Dr. Roger Zobrist.
Dr. Roger Zobrist (right) and colleague Dr. Ulrich Strycker prepare the simulator for emergency training. All images courtesy of AMTS.At the end of its first year of operation, AMTS has already seen about 4,500 course participants come through its doors, predominantly for musculoskeletal training, but also for events and courses in gastrointestinal and vascular surgery. Using real technical equipment and anatomic specimens, doctors can train without the need for live patients, which is particularly crucial for the imaging and surgical elements of the practical training.
Image guidance, including 3D visualization both pre- and intraoperatively, is increasingly important in all medical specialties. Such techniques are used throughout the medical process, from emergency admission to preoperative planning to intraoperative action. Knowledge is needed for the handling of image postprocessing software and documentation.
"Surgeons should be trained to use this software without the help of radiologists, despite the fact that in the era of image guidance, surgeons and radiologists should be partners and cooperate very closely," said Dr. Pietro Regazzoni, emeritus professor of surgery at the University of Basel, Switzerland, and a member of AMTS' board of directors.
A typical training session at AMTS. Dr. Pietro Regazzoni (shown in the center of the picture, with arms raised) believes industrial partners benefit from directly learning the needs of frontline healthcare staff and management through simulated work flow.The contents of AMTS training will depend on future partners' needs and initiatives, as well those already in existence, such as the Swiss Telemedicine Society, which has its offices at the center. Telemedicine is a vast area for the center that includes image transfer, teleconsultation, second opinion, and monitoring of chronically ill patients. Its applications and corresponding products will be demonstrated and increasingly used at AMTS during the coming years, according to Regazzoni and Zobrist.
The learning platform of the academy also serves as an interindustrial meeting arena for its core business partners, they added. For information and communication technology, this function takes place through the Swiss e-Health Campus, an offspring company that plans to use AMTS' mocked-up hospital environment for interoperability testing. Medtech companies will be able to showcase and integrate their products at the academy, work on hybrid products needing input from more than one single company or industry, and provide in-house training for their own personnel and collaborators.
At the same time, medical and nonmedical decision-makers in the treatment process will get to see real solutions.
"Improvements in cost efficacy will depend on improvements to process quality. We want to encourage these new decision-makers to have their regular meetings here and to exchange views with other stakeholders," Regazzoni said.
![Examples of ultrasound findings and techniques. (A) Images in a 39-year-old male patient with a mass in the left thigh. The mass is heterogeneous on the B-mode US image (compared with the patient in D) and showed increased microvascularity (superb microvascular imaging [SMI]) and shear-wave elastography (SWE) values. Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma was diagnosed at biopsy (with pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma in surgical specimen). (B) Images in an 18-year-old male patient with a mass in the left leg. The mass is hypoechoic on the B-mode image, with no other findings suggestive of malignancy. The lesion is in contact with the cortex of the tibia, which is slightly irregular. CT revealed a doubtful anteromedial tibial erosion. The microvascular study demonstrated high vascularization, suggestive of malignancy. Periosteal Ewing sarcoma was diagnosed with both histologic and immunohistochemical confirmation. (C) Images in a 69-year-old female patient with a lump growing on the outside of the left leg. Multiple SWE examinations were performed (please note the high values obtained in the measurements, whereas the color map highlights the stiffness relative to adjacent tissues). SMI showed areas of increased vascularization to target for sampling. Undifferentiated spindle cell sarcoma was diagnosed at biopsy, with residual leiomyosarcoma in the surgical specimen after neoadjuvant therapy. (D) Images in a 56-year-old female patient with a mass in the right thigh. The mass is heterogeneous at both B-mode ultrasound (similar to patient A) and MRI (coronal T2-weighted spectral attenuated inversion recovery [SPAIR]; T1-weighted pre-contrast and postcontrast imaging), which even shows uptake after the administration of paramagnetic contrast material, which is traditionally suggestive of malignancy. Low values at SMI and elastography are suggestive of benignity. Spindle cell lipoma was diagnosed at biopsy, with atypical spindle cell lipomatous tumor in the surgical specimen.](https://img.auntminnieeurope.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/08/images-radiol250278fig2.APCFLSvX6p.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=crop&h=100&q=70&w=100)
![Examples of ultrasound findings and techniques. (A) Images in a 39-year-old male patient with a mass in the left thigh. The mass is heterogeneous on the B-mode US image (compared with the patient in D) and showed increased microvascularity (superb microvascular imaging [SMI]) and shear-wave elastography (SWE) values. Undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma was diagnosed at biopsy (with pleomorphic rhabdomyosarcoma in surgical specimen). (B) Images in an 18-year-old male patient with a mass in the left leg. The mass is hypoechoic on the B-mode image, with no other findings suggestive of malignancy. The lesion is in contact with the cortex of the tibia, which is slightly irregular. CT revealed a doubtful anteromedial tibial erosion. The microvascular study demonstrated high vascularization, suggestive of malignancy. Periosteal Ewing sarcoma was diagnosed with both histologic and immunohistochemical confirmation. (C) Images in a 69-year-old female patient with a lump growing on the outside of the left leg. Multiple SWE examinations were performed (please note the high values obtained in the measurements, whereas the color map highlights the stiffness relative to adjacent tissues). SMI showed areas of increased vascularization to target for sampling. Undifferentiated spindle cell sarcoma was diagnosed at biopsy, with residual leiomyosarcoma in the surgical specimen after neoadjuvant therapy. (D) Images in a 56-year-old female patient with a mass in the right thigh. The mass is heterogeneous at both B-mode ultrasound (similar to patient A) and MRI (coronal T2-weighted spectral attenuated inversion recovery [SPAIR]; T1-weighted pre-contrast and postcontrast imaging), which even shows uptake after the administration of paramagnetic contrast material, which is traditionally suggestive of malignancy. Low values at SMI and elastography are suggestive of benignity. Spindle cell lipoma was diagnosed at biopsy, with atypical spindle cell lipomatous tumor in the surgical specimen.](https://img.auntminnieeurope.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/08/images-radiol250278fig2.APCFLSvX6p.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
