For several years, ALPhANOV has been working on the development of medical devices using photonics as an enabling technology, in total synergy with its regional medical environment : Institut Bergonié, IHU Liryc, CHU de Bordeaux and Limoges.

Medical imaging to detect cancerous tissue

One of the significant challenges in cancer treatment is the resection of tumor tissue as precisely and as minimally invasive as possible, and this medical procedure is getting evermore common as an outpatient surgery. Today, the rate of outpatient surgery has exceeded 63% nationwide. Indeed, minimally invasive procedures and outpatient surgery have become the norm for early treatment of cancer (kidney, liver, prostate gland), tumors and some cardiac and neurological pathologies.

It is in this context that a lot of image-guided therapies have emerged, especially with the development of increasingly high-performance medical imaging equipment in terms of image resolution of the human body and acquisition time. To date, MRI imaging has become a key tool in the detection of cancerous tissue and in its use in presurgical planning by surgeons.

CERTIS Therapeutics taking image-guided therapy to the next level

Over the last ten years, this imaging tool has become a tool for interventional imaging, leading surgeons in the resection of tumoral tissue. This is particularly the case with developments carried out by CERTIS Therapeutics, a start-up born out of the research activities of the cardiac rhythmology institute based in Pessac. CERTIS is developing a thermometry software based on MRI image. This makes it possible to visualize changes in tissue temperature very precisely and with excellent temporal resolution.

To destroy and eliminate all cancerous tissue, more commonly known as tumoral resection, one method consists in reaching a temperature of cellular necrosis, and the challenge lies in delivering a conformal thermal energy deposit, it means one that covers the entire tumor while respecting the surrounding healthy tissue. This is no easy task in view of the geometry of the tumor itself, the different absorption rates of the various tissues affected, and the various adjacent vectors carrying the deposited calories: veins, vessels, arteries...

The birth of a collaboration for health

Several technologies can precisely bring a heat deposit: microwaves, radiofrequencies using needles, and optical radiation using laser diodes whose light energy is delivered via optical fiber. CERTIS Therapeutics and ALPhANOV are collaborating on the latter. The Optical and Laser center is supporting this company to control laser technology and develop a multi-channel illumination source to deliver a thermal dose that is perfectly superimposed with the tumoral tissue volume. Today, this collaboration has enabled us to demonstrate the full potential of the software technology developed by CERTIS Therapeutics and, thanks to innovative diffusing probes, to address several tumoral tissue geometries. As a result, photonics offers immense potential for innovation in medicine and healthcare.

"This collaboration with Stéphane CHEMOUNY and its whole team has been going on for 5 years now, and involves experts from the Liryc IHU, experts within the CERTIS company as well as many engineers within ALPhANOV to both develop the laser device that interfaces best with the CERTIS software, but also work on innovative diffusing probes. A real team effort to develop an agile tool that will change the lives of patients with hard-to-reach tumors." Guillaume MACHINET, Head of Innovation Partnerships at ALPhANOV.