More than 2,000 patients develop rectal cancer in Sweden every year. Sadly, about a third of them will die from the disease. To facilitate early detection and thus improve the chance of providing the right treatment, many countries have implemented rectal cancer screening programmes. In Sweden, the ambition is to introduce rectal cancer screening during 2021.
High resolution images of lymph nodes for improved diagnostics
NanoEcho is attempting to fill a void in the current rectal cancer care. In fact, there are currently no good methods available, in preoperative evaluation, to detect cancer, spread to the lymph nodes, which is an important marker for the cancer’s progression. The majority of patients diagnosed with rectal cancer in early stages are recommended to undergo extensive surgery with high risk of complications in combination with radiation therapy. Most patients have to use ostomy bags after the surgery, and they usually suffer from leakages, infections and other complications, with considerable effects on their quality of life. It has also been shown that many patients undergo excessive surgery. We want to change that!
We are innovative and specialize in a novel, user-friendly imaging method known as magnetomotive ultrasound. Iron-oxide-based nanoparticles are used as a contrast agent for medical ultrasound imaging. The method offers high precision and makes it possible to detect cancer spread to the lymph nodes even before surgery. As a result, complication-prone surgery can be reduced as minimally invasive surgical procedures becomes an alternative for more patients, and more patients can maintain their quality of life.
Every year, about 600,000 patients worldwide develop rectal cancer. Sadly, about a third of them will die from the disease. To facilitate early detection and thus improve the chance of providing the right treatment, many countries have implemented rectal cancer screening programmes. In Sweden, the ambition is to introduce rectal cancer screening during 2021.
Our ambition is to commercialize our system and to establish our unique method as part of the rectal cancer standard of care. This way, we can provide medical teams that cater to patients suffering from rectal cancer the opportunity to offer each patient the best possible personalized cancer treatment, and thus the best prognosis.
We have the opportunity to either go to market with our product on our own or to seek cooperation with existing ultrasound and nanoparticles distributors. In the next stage, there will be significant scope for developing the method for, e.g., prostate cancer diagnostics.
We are addressing a large, unmet medical need
Currently, rectal cancer patients are most commonly treated with a combination of radiotherapy and surgery. For the medical team to be able to plan the surgery, it is important to know if the cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes.
Cancer spread to nearby lymph nodes is a clear marker for the progression of the cancer, and the information is important to personalize the best possible treatment strategy.
Today, spread to nearby lymph nodes is mainly examined by means of costly MRI scans, CAT scans, rectoscopy, and, in selected cases, rectal ultrasound, before and after treatment.
Unfortunately, current methods are far too uncertain to assess the cancer spread with any certainty. This impacts the treatment strategy, and one of the consequences is that many early-stage rectal-cancer patients undergo unnecessary surgery with high risk of complications.
The challenge of increasing the rectal cancer survival rate
In prostate and breast cancer, the current five-year survival rate now reaches more than 90 percent – an impressive figure. Sadly, the five-year survival rate of rectal cancer is significantly lower, no more than 67 percent.
One of the challenges to promote survival is to correctly assess to which stage the cancer has progressed, and if it has spread to nearby lymph nodes. To increase the survival rate, current diagnostics must be improved upon and strengthened.
We want to be part of the standard of care
Our ambition is to be included in the rectal cancer standard of care and contribute to a more reliable mapping of cancer spread to the lymph nodes. That way, we can contribute to reducing the number of patients subject to medical errors.
The current standard of care for rectal cancer includes three different examinations: tissue analysis, CT thorax and MRI. The results of those three examinations form the most important basis of evaluation in a multidisciplinary conference.
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The innovative high-precision method developed by NanoEcho may make it possible to detect cancer spread to the lymph nodes even before surgery. This would make local surgery an alternative for more patients, reducing the proportion of surgery associated with significant complications and preserving the quality of life of more patients.
NanoEcho AB
Gasverksgatan 1
222 29 Lund, Sweden
info@nanoecho.se
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