The Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE) today announced that the Philips-coordinated SHERPA research consortium has initiated seven clinical studies to demonstrate the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI)- and robotics-assisted workflows in minimally invasive treatments for brain aneurysms and liver tumours.
The SHERPA consortium aims to validate AI-powered technologies in imaging, data visualisation, procedure planning and guidance, clinical decision support, and patient pathway orchestration. The announcement states that these technologies are designed to automate repetitive, time-consuming tasks, support decision-making, and accelerate learning to ease the workload of interventional (neuro)radiologists.
The four-year research project is co-funded by industry partners through in-kind contributions and additional resources, as well as by the European Union Innovative Health Initiative (IHI), and comprises 16 partners from seven European countries.
In a recent press release, CIRSE states that a series of webinars and face-to-face training workshops, developed together with project partners, will aim to enable the safe and effective integration of new technologies into daily clinical interventional radiology (IR) practice. CIRSE will also ensure that IR practitioners’ perspectives are integrated in the development of new AI applications.
The SHERPA public-private partnership consortium comprises five medical technology industry partners, five academic partners, and five research organisation and medical association partners:
- Industry partners: Philips, Medtronic, Sim&Cure, Interventional Systems, Barco.
- Academic partners: University Medical Center Utrecht (Utrecht, The Netherlands), University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf (Hamburg, Germany), Hôpital Bicêtre AP-HP ( Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France), Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Barcelona, Spain), St Antonius Hospital (Nieuwegein, The Netherlands).
- Research organisation and medical association partners: European Institute for Biomedical Imaging Research (EIBIR), Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE), European Society of Minimally Invasive Neurological Therapy (ESMINT), Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), Human-Factors-Consult (HFC).
SHERPA will be featured at the European Congress of Radiology (ECR; 4–8 March, Vienna, Austria) 2026 in a dedicated session titled ‘Assistive Technologies for Interventional Radiologists: Enhancing Decision-Making and Streamlining Workflow with Innovations and AI-Powered Solutions’. The session will be chaired by CIRSE president Philippe L Pereira (SLK Clinics Heilbronn gGmbH, Heilbronn, Germany).
