Concepción González, CEO of Natshell and Medical Director of Medyther: “We use AI to measure pain and revolutionize the diagnosis of mild musculotendinous lesions with the support of CDTI Innovation and European funds MRR”
Through the MEDYTHER AI project, technology company Natshell is leading the development of a digital platform that seeks to completely transform the way doctors and insurers assess an injured patient. With the support of CDTI Innovation and European MRR funds, this initiative introduces Advanced Medical Thermography (AMT) and specialized neural networks to objectively, quickly and accurately measure the extent of mild musculoskeletal injuries and the real pain they cause.
Today, digital health is in the midst of a transformation towards more agile medical care. In this context, having non-invasive techniques that allow us to see what happens in the patient’s body is a priority for the healthcare sector. Natshell is leading this change, transforming traditional thermal cameras into high-precision tools. “We want to teach a computer system to interpret images of thermal radiation just like an expert doctor would, providing objective data where previously we only had the patient’s reference,” explains Concepción González, CEO of Natshell and medical director of Medyther.
The challenge of measuring pain
Natshell was founded with the aim of solving a very common problem in the health sector: the difficulty of objectively measuring the level of pain in the face of a muscle injury or a slight sprain. After trauma, pain is often the only apparent symptom, making it difficult for medical professionals and insurance experts to accurately determine the severity of the damage.
Traditional tests, such as X-rays or MRI scans, are designed to detect bone fractures or serious structural damage, but do not quantify pain or reflect functional alterations in minor injuries. For this reason, the company opted for medical thermography, a complementary technique capable of providing objective information on the state of tissues based on changes in body temperature.
To achieve this, they have developed a standardized system with precise positions for patient placement and detailed anatomical maps that analyze thermal variations of the skin. “This advance allows infrared imaging to become a real scientific tool to support doctors,” she says.
Artificial intelligence for a more accurate diagnosis
Before, analyzing a thermal image depended entirely on the eye and the doctor’s experience. The MEDYTHER AI project manages to automate this process thanks to the use of advanced deep learning or deep learning techniques and neural networks specialized in image analysis. The system has been trained with thousands of real cases to automatically identify the affected areas, compare them with a healthy pattern and record temperature variations so subtle that they would go unnoticed by the human eye. In addition, the program automatically corrects distortions caused by the environment or small movements of the patient.
This precision is especially useful in the detection and classification of certain pathologies, where locating and accurately measuring a specific inflammatory response is essential for diagnosis. In this way, the platform processes these patterns in real time and provides accurate numerical data on the condition of the skin and muscles, becoming the best assistant of the health professional when making decisions, managing work casualties or evaluating accidents.
Thermal analysis of the MEDYTHER AI platform to locate inflamed areas
Real solutions for patients and hospitals
This technology allows hospitals, mutuals and insurers to make decisions backed by objective data. Its main application focuses on sprains, muscle injuries and spinal pains caused, for example, by traffic or work accidents. “Although these injuries tend to be of low clinical severity, they generate a large number of medical consultations, periods of temporary incapacity and associated high costs,” says Concepción González.
MEDYTHER AI clearly shows the evolution of inflamed tissues, which helps to design better treatments, accurately determine the time of recovery and schedule times of discharge with total safety and clinical rigor. “Their integration into care circuits can help reduce waiting times, optimize the use of diagnostic tests and improve clinical prioritization. In short, it favors management based on efficiency and personalized medicine that will help decongest specialties such as rehabilitation and traumatology, and its special application for its innocuousness in Pediatrics and Obstetrics”, he adds.
This technology initiative is also aligned with the UN 2030 Agenda. By improving the diagnosis safely and without ionizing radiation, the project contributes to SDG 3 (Health and Welfare), while its commitment to AI applied to medicine drives SDG 9 (Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure). Finally, by avoiding duplicate testing and optimizing hospital resources, it supports SDG 12 (Responsible Production and Consumption), promoting much more efficient and sustainable health management.
A boost thanks to the CDTI Innovation and European MRR funds
To develop a project of this level, MEDYTHER AI has counted on the financing of the European MRR funds through the CDTI Innovation. For the company’s CEO, public support has been key: “Thanks to this funding, we have been able to develop a technology specifically designed for medical thermography, instead of adapting existing generic artificial intelligence tools.”
In addition, this financial support “has allowed us to create our own technology that responds to the real needs of healthcare centers, helping the company to grow and provide innovative solutions to the world of health”, highlights the directive.
Map of distribution of rooms/laboratories Medyther to perform the Advanced Medical Thermography (TMA) guaranteed in the centers of Spain
A more efficient and painless future
Looking ahead, the challenge of the MEDYTHER platform is to consolidate its key role in tackling mild musculoskeletal injuries. By providing faster and more accurate diagnostics, you’ll provide quantifiable data to inform decisions about recovery, discharge or sequelae. In addition, its implementation will avoid unnecessary high-cost tests, optimize rehabilitation sessions and detect early the risk of the pain becoming chronic.
In this same vein, for Concepción González, Natshell’s near future is to continue moving towards a precision medicine based on non-invasive, innocuous and functional technologies. “We believe that these kinds of solutions will be part of the next generation of digital health tools, complementing the work of healthcare professionals and improving the quality of patient care,” he concludes.
CDTI Innovation
The Center for Technological Development and Innovation, CDTI E.P.E. It is the innovation agency of the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, whose objective is the promotion of technological innovation in the business environment. The mission of the CDTI is to ensure that the Spanish business fabric generates and transforms scientific and technical knowledge into globally competitive, sustainable and inclusive growth. In 2025, within the framework of the Strategic Plan 2024-2027, the CDTI provided 2,423 million euros of support to Spanish companies and startups.
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