Photograph (from left to right): Dr Katharine Giles, Professor Christobel Saunders AO and Professor Brendan Kennedy.
The Prix Galien Awards are among the world’s most prestigious honours for innovation in life sciences and healthcare. They are often considered by the research community as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize in health and medical innovation.
The nomination highlights the international significance of OncoRes Medical’s technology, and its potential to improve outcomes for people undergoing cancer surgery.
Hitting the right spot, the first time
For the one in seven Australian women who are diagnosed with breast cancer, surgery is often the first line of treatment.
Surgeons aim to remove all cancer tissue, so it doesn’t grow back. They often rely on their sense of touch to find the edges of the cancer, which feel stiffer than healthy tissue.
However, they cannot be certain they have removed all the cancer until a pathologist examines the tissue samples under a microscope in the days following the operation. If cancer cells remain at the edge of the removed tissue, additional surgery may be required.
In breast-conserving surgery, around 20 to 30% of women undergo repeat surgery to remove remaining cancerous tissue.
‘The reality is it’s often difficult at the time of surgery to know you’ve removed all the tumour, even with imaging of the removed specimen,’ explains breast surgeon Professor Christobel Saunders AO.
Supercharging the surgeon’s sense of touch
After 10 years of searching, Christobel, engineer Professor Brendan Kennedy, and their colleagues at the University of Western Australia found a way to visualise what surgeons feel through touch.
The research team’s breakthrough technology, known as Quantitative Micro-Elastography (QME), creates images based on differences in tissue stiffness. By using light waves to measure how tissue responds to gentle compression, QME can distinguish between stiffer cancer tissue and softer healthy tissue. It translates these differences into images the surgeon can interpret.
‘That was the great, exciting moment,’ Christobel recalls. ‘We realised we could differentiate cancerous tissue from healthy tissue with high accuracy.’
Translating benchtop research into a real-time surgical probe
The research team set up OncoRes Medical to turn their QME technology into a real-time surgical product that can be developed, tested and brought to market.
The company has developed a handheld QME probe that is connected to a workstation monitor. It fits within operating theatres and has been shown to be safe and easy to use with remarkable accuracy. Importantly, it looks to see if any tumour has been left behind in the patient. Other technologies just look at what has already been removed.
This handheld device could dramatically help surgeons remove all the cancerous tissue during the first operation, reducing the need for repeat surgery. This could also significantly help women who get breast cancer – with more accurate surgery the first time, less complications and better outcomes.
Developing new tools for different kinds of cancer surgery
Advances in keyhole and robotic surgery are creating exciting new opportunities, including better results for patients.
But surgeons using these techniques must find and remove the cancer without the benefit of their sense of touch.
To address this, OncoRes Medical is exploring how QME technology could be integrated into minimally invasive surgical techniques, including robotic surgery.
Adapting QME to existing and emerging surgical workflows could extend its benefits beyond breast cancer. It could give more surgeons real-time information to help improve cancer surgery and improve outcomes for patients.
Building an Australian medtech success story
The Medical Research Future Fund supported OncoRes Medical’s work through its Medical Research Commercialisation initiative.
While international recognition of the Prix Galien Award nomination highlights the technology’s promise, significant work is needed before the technology reaches routine clinical use.
Dr Katharine Giles, Chief Executive Officer, says the company’s immediate focus is getting the QME imaging device, ELORA®, to market. A critical next step will begin in the United States next year, with a pivotal clinical trial followed by submission to the Food and Drug Administration for market approval.
‘Surgery is constantly evolving in the quest for better outcomes. To be a sustainable Australian-based business it’s important to have a pipeline of products in development.
‘Having the minimally invasive product line underway is future proofing our company.’
OncoRes Medical’s Prix Galien USA Awards nomination reflects growing global recognition of Australian medical technology innovation. It also acknowledges the company’s potential to improve cancer surgery worldwide.
