Author: Manisha Shah-Bugaj , COO, Activ Surgical
September 28, 2022
Earlier in September, the team at Activ Surgical, along with a small consortium of leading surgeons across the U.S., completed a significant and exciting milestone by having our first peer-reviewed study and subsequent paper published in the well-renowned journal Surgical Endoscopy. The study, which was led by Activ Surgical CMSO and founder, Dr. Peter Kim, used our ActivSight™ Intelligent Light Visualization System to determine if laser speckle contrast imaging (LSCI) mitigates limitations inherent in the use and interpretation of indocyanine green (ICG) fluorescence during real-time intraoperative tissue blood flow and perfusion in operating room scenarios.
During the study, Dr. Kim was joined by Dr. Steven D. Schwaitzberg from the University of Buffalo and Dr. Chibueze A. Nwaiwu from the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, and several of my colleagues at Activ Surgical. The group used our FDA-cleared platform that provides real-time, on-demand intraoperative visual data and images not currently available to surgeons through existing technologies. ActivSight enables two visualization modalities: dye-less real-time visualization of blood flow and perfusion using LSCI and near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) visualization of ICG dye in blood volume. In this study, surgeons examined blood flow and perfusion using LSCI and NIRF-ICG in a segmentally devascularized intestine, partial gastrectomy, and the renal hilum across six porcine models.
The results were groundbreaking. The team concluded that using ActivSight with LSCI for blood flow detection significantly improves precision and accuracy of perfusion detection in tissue locations over time, in real time, and repeatedly on-demand. These findings represent a paradigm shift in the OR, allowing surgeons enhanced visualization in a laparoscopic form factor that will usher in a new era of patient safety and standards of care around the world.
I am grateful to Dr. Kim, Dr. Schwaitzberg, and Dr. Nwaiwu for leading this study and for the publishing of this peer-reviewed paper as it provides mission-critical validation for ActivSight. Achieving this milestone and receiving validation from Surgical Endoscopy is an important hurdle on our path to global commercialization of our surgical intelligence platform. I also want to thank my colleagues at Activ Surgical who supported this effort: Vasiliy Buharin PhD, Anderson Mach, and Robin Grandl PhD. We appreciate your hard work and determination.
Stay tuned for more updates from Activ Surgical as we continue our progress towards commercial availability of the ActivSight Intelligent Light Visualization System later this year, and making good on our promise to deliver intelligent information that reduces surgical complication rates in operating rooms around the world.
To purchase the peer-reviewed paper in Surgical Endoscopy please visit: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00464-022-09583-2
