Optiscan and Mayo Clinic to develop breast cancer imaging

Optiscan Imaging has entered into a collaboration through a know-how agreement with Mayo Clinic in the US to develop a digital confocal laser endomicroscopic imaging system for use in robotic surgery.

The collaboration combines Optiscan’s engineering expertise in digital endomicroscopic hardware and software development with Mayo Clinic’s know-how in robotic surgery and quality patient care, according to a statement.

The agreement, which covers a 24-month co-development plan, will bring together both companies to develop a robot-compatible endomicroscopic imaging system with an initial focus on robotic-assisted breast cancer surgery.

Optiscan CEO and Managing Director Dr Camile Farah said: “We’re excited to collaborate with Mayo Clinic to accelerate the development and clinical testing of our robotic imaging platform with the aim of fast-tracking the adoption of real-time digital pathology and image guided precision robotic surgery.

“This collaboration is built on a shared history of innovation and a laser focus on delivering the highest quality patient outcomes for better health care delivery.”

Mayo Clinic is the largest integrated, not-for-profit medical group practice in the world, undertakes more than 141,000 surgical cases and performs more than 4,000 robotic surgery cases a year.

The robotic-assisted surgery market is experiencing significant growth and the US
robotic surgery service market was valued at US$1.8 Bn in 2022 and is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 17.3 percent to reach US$6.4 Bn in 2030.

Dr Farah said: “The collaboration is part of Optiscan’s wider strategic focus on the US market, and its plan to embed its platform technology as a key component of intraoperative oncological surgery workflows in a variety of settings and clinical applications.

“(This provides) surgeons with realtime microscopic information of cancer clearance for the potential to reduce missed cancers and minimise repeat surgeries due to residual disease.”

Picture: Optiscan Imaging