Promaxo, a medical device startup focusing on portable MRI and other technology, is developing and commercializing an office-based, portable MRI with cellular level spatial resolution. Also in development is a real time biopsy and other treatment tools for the urology market. The company’s current focus is on prostate cancer disease management.
The problem that Promaxo seeks to address is the prostate cancer management pathway, which incorporates PSA and “blinded biopsies,” which is ineffective and fails patients.
Post PSA screening is now the standard of care for prostate cancer diagnosis. It is a “blinded” 2D biopsy, wherein 12 random biopsy cores are taken from the gland under ultrasound guidance. The procedure is invasive, has extremely low sampling coverage, and has limitations due to a substantial false negative rate. Moreover, certain areas of the prostate gland [i.e., the anterior gland, transition zone and apex] are known to be under-sampled or not sampled at all at routine non-targeted biopsy and are now increasingly being recognized as areas that may contain clinically significant tumors. A positive biopsy leads to a treatment protocol, which primarily involves surgical or robotic prostatectomy, radiation therapy or whole gland ablation, leading to quality of life issues such as incontinence, impotence, bowel problems and loss of fertility. These induce immense stress in patients and are a huge cost to the overall healthcare system from a disease management standpoint.
Promaxo’s solution is a suite of products including high-resolution prostate-specific MR imagers, tools for image-guided biopsy and treatment, and automated software for tissue characterization. Their products not only deliver a cost effective, high resolution and ultrafast scanning MR image, as well as a compact, energy-saving, office-based solution. For patients, there are no unpleasant bio effects and minimal side effects.
For more on Promaxo, visit the company’s website.
Categories: Ideas & Technologies
