Globes [online] is reporting about Dune Medical Devices Ltd., a Caesarea, Israel start-up, raising $12.5 million in financing. The company has developed a unique hand-held surgical probe that enables detection of malignant tissue during breast surgery. The company says that its technology, that can analyze differences in electrical waveforms reflected from malignant and benign breast tissues, was successfully tested in breast, esophagus, colon, and lung cancers, and products for detection of these neoplasms are under way.
Here’s the company on its proprietary RF spectroscopy that enables intraoperative, on-contact cancer detection:
The BP System is indicated for use as an intraoperative probe in breast lumpectomy procedures to aid in the selection of tissue abnormalities for excision and for intraoperative margin assessment. The clinical benefit of Dune’s device is the ability to provide the surgeon with an indication of the malignancy status of the margin of the excised tissue, in real time. Thus, surgeons can react to this information before the procedure is over and, where appropriate, remove the suspected residuals…
Dune’s real-time tissue characterization system gives the surgeon a simple, immediate, indication about the presence of cancer at the measured site. In the lumpectomy probe the measured site is a 7mm wide by 1mm deep, coin-shape, slice of tissue against which the sensor, at the tip of the probe, is pressed. If there are cancerous clusters in the “slice”, the system will flag the user by an audible and visual signal. Otherwise the system will indicate “clear”. The probe is designed for the unique demands of each procedure: In lumpectomies, it is a hand-held probe containing control buttons and audiovisual indicators, while for GI biopsy and EMR, it is designed as an endoscope insert for operation through the endoscope’s generic working channel.
Dune’s platform has two components: a disposable probe unit and an external console unit.
The heart of the disposable probe unit is Dune’s proprietary miniature sensor.
This electromagnetic fringe field sensor (FFS) is capable of sensing minute differences in electromagnetic properties within its immediate vicinity. Dune’s unique design enables an accurate capture of a cell cluster’s electromagnetic signature (i.e. cancerous or healthy).
To learn more, here is the product page (don’t forget to check the animation)…
The poster presentation (.pdf)…
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