Advantages
‐ Dramatic Enhancement of Identification Rate and Accuracy in SLN Biopsy.
- Elimination of Excitation Light Non-Uniformity and Central Darkening in Close-Up Imaging.
- Real-time correction of geometric magnification disparities caused by distance shifts or manual positioning, achieving accurate, drift-free image fusion.
- Add-on unit design offering excellent versatility for integration with existing gamma-ray detection equipment.
Current Stage and Key Data
Development Stage: Proof of Concept (PoC) Completed / Functional Prototype Validation.
Partnaring Model
Patent licensing, joint product development/design for intraoperative navigation systems, sponsored research, and technical consulting.
‐ Potential partners: Medical endoscopy and surgical imaging equipment manufacturers, Radiation detection and nuclear medicine equipment manufacturers, Optical component and precision instrument manufacturers.
Background and Technology
In surgical oncology, particularly for breast and head-and-neck cancers, accurate localization and biopsy of the sentinel lymph node (SLN)—the first node to receive lymphatic drainage from a primary tumor—are vital to avoid unnecessary axillary lymph node dissection and preserve patient quality of life. Clinical guidelines strongly recommend combining the radioisotope (RI) method (which provides deep tissue penetration) and the near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) method (which offers real-time lymphatic vessel mapping). However, conventional practice relies on measuring these signals separately using distinct devices, lacking a unified system to superimpose both modalities directly onto the patient's anatomical surface. Furthermore, existing multimodal prototypes suffer from non-uniform excitation lighting during close-up imaging and positional overlay errors caused by field-of-view (FOV) mismatches when the working distance changes. This technology overcomes all these challenges simultaneously, dramatically improving the accuracy, efficiency, and clinical confidence of intraoperative SLN biopsy navigation.
Principal Investigator
Kohei Nakanishi (Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya University, Tokai National Higher Education and Research System)
Patents and Publications
Patent pending (unpublished yet)