Master Thesis Usability Evaluation and Modernization Strategy for a Safety-Critical Medical Device User Interface

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• Introduction Leksell GammaPlan is a treatment planning system used with the Leksell Gamma Knife for stereotactic radiosurgery and radiotherapy.
• Over many years, the software has evolved to support new clinical workflows, technologies and treatment techniques.
• While this evolution has enabled continuous innovation, parts of the graphical user interface are based on older design paradigms and technologies.
• This thesis will investigate how a mature safety-critical expert system can be modernized while maintaining safety, regulatory compliance and support for expert users.
• The software is used by highly trained experts and contains extensive functionality, complex workflows and large amounts of information.
• Modernizing such systems presents unique challenges.
• Beyond improving Leksell GammaPlan itself, this project seeks to explore how safety-critical expert systems can be modernized in a structured and repeatable way.
• The resulting principles and framework may support future modernization efforts across multiple products and domains.

Responsibilities

• The work will combine usability engineering principles with practical product development considerations to develop both short-term and long-term modernization strategies.
• Background As a safety-critical medical device software product, Leksell GammaPlan must support efficient and safe decision-making while minimizing the risk of user error.
• Improvements must balance usability, safety, information density, regulatory requirements and implementation effort.
• At the same time, expectations for professional software continue to evolve, creating a need to refresh mature software products without sacrificing the strengths relied upon by expert users.
• How can a mature safety-critical medical device graphical user interface be incrementally modernized while maintaining compliance, safety and support for expert users?
• Which usability deficiencies can be identified using standard-based expert evaluation methods, and how should they be prioritized?
• How can contemporary user experience principles be introduced into a complex expert system without reducing efficiency or information accessibility?
• Which user interface improvements provide the highest usability benefit for the lowest implementation effort?
• Can a reusable modernization framework be developed for safety-critical expert systems?
• The final research focus can be refined together with the student and supervisors.
• Output The project is expected to produce: A structured usability assessment of the current graphical user interface based on ISO 9241 dialogue principles and consistency analysis.
• A prioritized list of usability issues and improvement opportunities.
• A low-effort redesign proposal compatible with the current technology stack.
• A long-term modernization concept addressing broader workflow and architectural limitations.
• A rationale for each recommendation based on usability and patient safety considerations.
• A reusable modernization framework for safety-critical expert systems.
• To ensure an appropriate scope, the project may focus on a selected workflow or subsystem rather than the entire application.

Who are we looking for?

• Domain experts from Elekta will provide introductions to the clinical workflow, treatment planning concepts and relevant aspects of the software architecture.
• The student will work closely with experts in usability engineering, software development and clinical applications throughout the project.

Requirements

• This project is suitable for students with backgrounds in: Human-Computer Interaction Interaction Design Human Factors Engineering Cognitive Science User Experience Design The project is particularly suitable for students interested in usability engineering, safety-critical systems, medical technology, product design and expert-user workflows.
• No prior knowledge of Gamma Knife treatment planning is required.

Practicalities Location

Elekta office, Stockholm Supervisor: Felix Bayer, [email protected] Start date: Early 2027