Lightpoint Medical has received CE Mark approval for SENSEI, the first robotic gamma probe to be commercially available to European hospitals.
SENSEI has been designed for intra-operative detection of sentinel lymph nodes as well as cancer metastasis through the lymphatic system.
The technology promises more-precise, targeted cancer surgery and is applicable across a wide range of major cancer types, including lung, colorectal, stomach, gynecological, and prostate cancer.
Dr David Tuch, chief executive of Lightpoint Medical, said: “Lightpoint is developing the most-advanced intra-operative cancer detection technologies and securing CE Mark status for SENSEI is an important milestone in our efforts to transform cancer surgery and underscores our commitment to meet surgeons’ needs for miniaturised cancer detection tools as robotic platform technologies grow to dominate surgical practice.”
SENSEI promises accurate real-time cancer detection for robot-assisted cancer surgery.
Currently, surgeons have no way to precisely detect cancer intra-operatively. And, as a result, millions of patients suffer every year as cancer is frequently left behind or healthy, functional tissue is needlessly removed.”
Robotic surgeon, Dr Jim Adshead, from the Lister Hospital, run by East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, said: “I am very excited about regulatory approval for SENSEI and now eager to start using it in surgery.
“I have been closely involved in the development of the technology since early usability testing and I’m extremely hopeful for its potential in advancing the treatment of prostate cancer.”
SENSEI locates SPECT radioligands such as 99mTc-nanocolloid for sentinel lymph node detection or cancer-targeted drugs for cancer metastasis detection such as 99mTc-PSMA (Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen) in prostate cancer surgery.
CE Mark approval of SENSEI is for sentinel lymph node detection.