Lightpoint has created a surgical probe that could quickly and accurately detect cancer in real-time in the operating room.
SENSEI is an advanced guidance system designed for intracavity radio-guided surgery.
The system’s miniaturized gamma probe enables unprecedented dexterity and anatomic reach, expanding the field of view and enabling the quick localization of radioactive hotspots.
Joanne O’shea, head of communications at Lightpoint, said the small and flexible SENSEI gamma probe enables radio-guided procedures in previously inaccessible tight surgical cavities such as the pelvis, abdomen and lungs. Making it applicable to a variety of procedures across major cancer types, including prostate, cervical, colorectal, lung, and bladder cancer.
“Traditional long, rigid, hand-held gamma probes have been used over many years in surgery and are standard of care for example in the detection of sentinel lymph nodes in breast cancer surgery.
“However, aside from open surgery, such as breast cancer procedures, long, rigid gamma probes are impracticable in tight surgical cavities and are extremely challenging to use in minimally-invasive and robot-assisted surgery.
“The small and flexible SENSEI gamma probe enables radio-guided procedures in previously inaccessible tight surgical cavities such as the pelvis, abdomen and lungs.
“The technical challenges to miniaturisation at this scale have been overcome with an innovative miniature and homogenous tungsten shielding design to exclude background signal interference and a novel design for the miniaturisation and assembly of the electronics and detection system. “
O’shea told Health Tech World that SENSEI is already being used to detect lateral lymph nodes deep in the pelvic wall in colorectal cancer surgery.
She said studies have shown that the removal of these nodes can decrease rates of local recurrence for colorectal cancer patients.
“In prostate cancer surgery, SENSEI is being used with the prostate-cancer-specific radio-pharmaceutical, 99mTc-PSMA.
“This promises the direct detection of metastatic lymph nodes in real-time during surgery, avoiding the need for biopsy and promising the retention of healthy, functional tissue for non-involved lymph nodes.
“The consequences of removing healthy lymphatic tissue is increased risk of adverse events (deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, lymphoceles, blood loss), morbidity (wound complications, respiratory, cardiovascular and neuromusculoskeletal events) and lengthened hospital stays (almost 2.5-fold higher readmission rates and over 2.5-fold higher re-operation rate).
“If surgeons could accurately detect cancer intra-operatively, a more selective dissection of lymph nodes could be applied, reducing complications and saving operating time.
“Therefore, SENSEI, provides the potential for more selective nodal dissection in prostate cancer surgery to improve patient outcomes and reduce costs for healthcare systems.
O’shea said the probe could also reduce costs for healthcare systems by enabling real-time detection of metastatic lymph nodes in prostate cancer surgery and avoiding biopsy, and potentially avoiding extensive removal of lymphatic tissue in favour of a more selective dissection.
“The immediate economic benefit for the SENSEI user is a significant reduction in OR time
“Added time for an extended lymph node dissection is estimated at one hour at an approximate cost of £2,500.
“Critically, the preservation of healthy tissue should also decrease the volume of associated acute and chronic morbidities with a consequent reduction in costs related to the treatment of such morbidities, a reduction in hospital stays, and decreased likelihood of readmission.
“An independent early-stage health economics assessment of SENSEI for prostate cancer surgery, concluded that the overall cost saving per patient could be approximately £1,595 compared to the current standard of care with further savings envisaged from reducing post-acute care, management of morbidities and complications.
“The SENSEI technology can also be applied to other major cancer indications such as lung, colorectal, cervical, and bladder cancer surgery with additional cost savings related to reductions in operating time and management of chronic morbidities related to sub-optimal surgical outcomes.”
O’shea said Lightpoint’s mission over 2022 is to dramatically expand the number of surgeons and clinical teams benefiting from its technology.
Last year, the company secured regulatory approvals for SENSEI. It also initiated clinical trials with the device in the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, and Netherlands in colorectal, prostate, and cervical cancer surgery.
“The response from the surgical community has been incredibly encouraging. Surgeons have been able to integrate SENSEI easily with their surgical robotic platforms, gaining from the huge efficiencies of minimally-invasive and robot-assisted surgery.
“In 2022, we are aiming to dramatically expand the number of hospitals and surgeons using SENSEI across target territories and specialties; growing the clinical data; and proving market traction for the technology.
“We will also be working with our partner, Telix Pharmaceuticals, to combine SENSEI with their new cancer-targeted imaging agents in clinical trials to expand the application of the technology.
“Expect to see new clinical partnerships from Lightpoint over an expanding global network across an increasing number of major cancer types.
“We will also continue to work on our R&D pipeline with new developments in implementing AI into our technologies.”
