Enhanced ultrasound technology for earlier tumour diagnosis
A spin-out from Oxford University’s Department of Engineering Science has raised £1 million from a Chinese investor to develop an imaging technology which could help doctors detect cancers — particularly prostate and liver tumours.
Oxford Enhanced Medical Limited (OxEML) has been set up with support from Isis Innovation, the university’s commercialisation company, based on technology invented by Professor David Edwards and Professor Chris Stevens. Professor Edwards explained that this technology will bring “a new imaging and tissue characterisation technique to clinicians”.
“The OxEML system uses electromagnetic and acoustic waves to create a new class of medical images at a cost comparable to ultrasound,” he said. “For doctors, the enhanced images contain new information which should enable clinicians to more easily distinguish between normal and cancerous tissue. We anticipate that this new technology will be considerably cheaper both in terms of capital cost and running costs compared with MRI.
“Our aim with the OxEML technology is to improve patient care by providing clinicians with MRI-like information using more accessible, cheaper enhanced ultrasound instruments,” Professor Edwards continued. “This will allow earlier, cost-effective diagnosis, particularly for patients in remote areas without easy access to MRI services.”
OxEML CEO Amol Karnick added, “The OxEML system can also be used by physicians to improve biopsy targeting, making testing and treatment shorter and more effective, and to monitor patients to determine whether treatment is working.”
The investor, Mr Zhang, is a VP of Hisun-Pfizer Pharma, China. He said, “Oxford Enhanced Medical Limited directly addresses a global $13 billion medical imaging market and has the potential to be applied in several non-medical imaging applications.”
OxEML will continue to work with its existing partner, Canada’s Centre for Imaging Technology Commercialization, to develop and test its ultrasound imaging technology.
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