The St. Louis Business Journal reports that the FDA has approved a medical device used to diagnose and treat prostate cancer, developed by Envisioneering Medical Technologies, LLC of St. Louis. The company boasts about its TargetScan® system featuring a stationary probe:
Current procedures require urologists to hold and pivot a probe with one hand, while performing a needle biopsy with the other hand. The inherent variables of this existing biopsy technique can force doctors to miss as much as 20 to 30 percent of potential cancers, according to Dr. Gerald Andriole, professor of surgery and chief of urology at Washington University School of Medicine and director of the Urological Research Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis.
“We’ve learned that current diagnostic tools are inadequate — missing cancer in some patients while over testing others,” said Andriole, who after examining TargetScan joined Envisioneering’s medical advisory board. “With TargetScan, we anticipate improved cancer detection — saving time, money and possibly lives.”
TargetScan also impacts cancer treatment, according to Dr. Jeff Michalski, Department of Radiation Oncology at Washington University School of Medicine. “The clinical benefit from the TargetScan 3-D probe is obvious,” says Michalski. “By eliminating the need to physically move the probe, the prostate position will be stabilized allowing for improved radioactive seed implantation and better brachyotherapy clinical outcomes.”
“We have met with urologists from across the country and heard their call for a better biopsy strategy to combat the disease that kills one man every 13 minutes,” said Robert G. Mills, Envisioneering president. “With TargetScan, we have tried to answer this appeal by offering technology that we hope will reduce inconsistencies and produce conclusive test results from the first biopsy. This diagnostic and treatment delivery innovation is not only critical to a physician’s medical practice, but it also is imperative for beating a cancer that is nearly 100 percent survivable if detected early.”
More at Envisioneering Medical Technologies…