Sonda laser AI pentru cancerul de prostată intră în studii clinice

Software-ul AI capabil să cartografieze țesutul tumoral mai precis pentru a ajuta chirurgii să trateze și să micșoreze cancerul de prostată folosind un ac alimentat cu laser va fi testat în curând pe pacienți reali în timpul studiilor clinice.

Institutul Național al Cancerului a estimat că aproximativ 12.6% dintre bărbați vor fi diagnosticați cu cancer de prostată la un moment dat în viață. Riscul de dezvoltare a bolii crește în timp pt bărbați cu vârsta peste 50 de ani. It’s one of the most curable forms of cancer, considering most cases are caught in the early stages due to regular screening tests.

Treatment for prostate cancer varies depending on the severity of the disease. Patients can undergo hormone therapy, chemotherapy, or surgery to remove tissue. Avenda Health, a medical startup founded in 2017, is developing a new type of treatment that is less invasive. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted an investigational device exemption (IDE) to the company’s invention this week, meaning it can now be used in a clinical study. 

Patients will need to have an MRI scan and a targeted fusion biopsy performed first. The data is processed by Avenda’s AI algorithms in its iQuest software to map where the cancerous cells are located within the prostate. Next, the computer vision-aided model will simulate where best to insert FocalPoint, a probe armed with a laser, to help surgeons treat the patient’s tumor. The heat from the laser gently heats the cancerous cells and kills them with goal of shrinking and removing the whole tumor.

“Historically, prostate cancer treatments of surgery or radiation impacts critical structures like the urethra and nerves which control sexual and urinary function,” Avenda’s CEO and co-founder Shyam Natarajan told Registrul. “Our focal laser ablation system, FocalPoint, which is powered by our AI-driven cancer margin software, iQuest, specifically targets tumor tissue and avoids healthy tissue. This means patients no longer lose control over these functions that are so common with traditional treatments, so quality of life is significantly improved.”

Tratamentul este eficient numai pentru bărbații diagnosticați cu risc intermediar de cancer de prostată, o clasificare care descrie tumorile fiind limitate numai în interiorul prostatei. Pacienții sunt considerați cu risc ridicat în cazurile în care cancerul s-a răspândit dincolo de prostată. 

“This is one of the benefits of the iQuest software. Not only can it map the cancer, but it also provides decision support for the physician as they determine the best course of treatment for an individual patient. Not every patient is going to be eligible for focal therapy, and it is important for the physician to distinguish between good focal therapy candidates and not.  iQuest provides useful insights for that decision making process,”  Natarajan said.

bulevard primit Autorizarea FDA pentru dispozitivul său FocalPoint în 2020. Aprobarea IDE aduce compania cu un pas mai aproape de a-și aduce produsul pe piață după testele clinice, Brittany Berry-Pusey, co-fondatoare și COO al Avenda, a spus într-o declarație. 

“This clinical trial will play a key role in advancing our breakthrough technology to improve prostate cancer care. With no new FDA approvals for the treatment of localized prostate cancer in more than four decades, we look forward to working alongside our clinical sites to collect the data necessary to bring iQuest and FocalPoint to market and into the patient care environment.”

Natarajan ne-a spus că compania își propune să înceapă studiile clinice în 2023. ®