Whole prostate scanning in minutes
Assessing margins in robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) has never been quicker
The clinical need
RARP allows for the preservation of more healthy tissue around the prostate, which can help to minimize the risk of side effects such as erectile dysfunction. However, preserving more healthy tissue increases the risk of leaving cancer behind, and current intraoperative margin assessments (IOMA) require trained resources and take up to 1 hour, making it too time-consuming and costly to become a standard procedure. Approximately 20-30% of prostate cancer are reported to have postoperative positive surgical margins ¹¹ ⁻ ¹².
Needs to be met
To standardize a conserving approach with a low positive margins rate, there is a need for IOMA to meet the following criteria:
High accuracy: cellular morphology
Ultra-fast: whole prostate scanning in <10 min
Easy-to-use: usable by both surgeons and pathologists
Our solution
Our Histolog Scanner matches these needs by offering real-time morphology information of the whole prostate. In nerve-sparing surgery, the assessment of the areas adjacent to the nerve bundles takes about 5 minutes¹⁰, giving you extra time for scanning other potentially interesting areas such as the apex.
In comparison with the NeuroSAFE technique, this represents an 80% time saving with the same performance¹⁰. The prostate can be scanned in the OR and images sent to the pathology laboratory, or the images can be acquired directly in the pathology lab.
Understand how the Histolog Scanner fits into your surgical workflow.
Dr. D. Somford
Urologist in Canisius-Wilhelmina Ziekenhuis, Netherlands
“In robot-assisted radical prostatectomy, the Histolog Scanner was used to assess the nerve bundles adjacent areas and showed similar performances to NeuroSAFE, however, in 5 minutes instead of >45 minutes”
The Histolog images
Here is a preview of different types of tissues visualized with the Histolog Scanner. They can be easily recognized after a short training on our dedicated platform, the HIT Academy.
CLINICAL ROADMAP
Our clinical roadmap for prostate cancer began with a study at Canisius Hospital that compared the efficacy of the Histolog Scanner to that of the NeuroSAFE procedure, which is used to maximize oncosafety after radical prostatectomy. Despite being time-consuming, NeuroSAFE is a reliable method for this purpose. Through this comparison, we confirmed the feasibility, efficacy and rapidity advantages of the Histolog Scanner. Furthermore, the study revealed several additional benefits of the Histolog Scanner, including its versatility in scanning options such as surface scanning, sectional analysis, or whole scanning of the prostate. These capabilities provide clinicians with greater flexibility in utilizing this technology.
Comparison of the Histolog Scanner approach to NeuroSAFE procedure
Prof. D. Somford, Canisius Wilhelmina Hospital, Nijmegen – Netherlands BJUI 2022
- Similar performance as NeuroSAFE
- Drastic time saving : 80% time-reduction (average 8 min vs. 50 min)
- Low resources required : used in autonomy by pathologist
The NeuroSAFE PROOF study
Watch the interview of Mr. G. Shaw from University College London Hospitals in the UK. He is currently conducting a performance study of the Histolog Scanner in the context of nerve-bundles preservation.