A Digital Biopsy Platform for Real-time intraoperative consultation during cancer surgery, cCeLL VPIX Medical, Inc.

VPIX Medical, Inc. is a healthcare startup that created the cCeLL ('see Cell with Lissajous laser scanning') digital biopsy platform. cCeLL's handheld confocal fluorescence miniaturized microscope it is attracting attention as a breakthrough technology that can overcome the limitations of cancer surgery and alleviate the discomfort of patients and medical staff by reducing the frozen biopsy time, which used to be nearly 30 minutes to diagnose cancer cells during surgery, to real time.

Limitations of Biopsy During Cancer Surgery

After cancer surgery, the recurrence rate is typically between 20 and 30 percent. The primary cause is the regrowth of cancer cells that were not completely removed during treatment. Complete removal is key in cancer surgery. It is crucial to quickly confirm that the surface of the resected tissue contains no cancerous tissue, and during cancer surgery, a frozen biopsy is performed to determine this. The patient's removed tissue is sent to the pathology department, where it undergoes gross cutting, freezing, sectioning, staining, and is analyzed using microscopy. The delivery of results to the operating room can take anywhere between 20 minutes and one hour. The patient may be put in jeopardy as a result of the medical staff's need to wait for the results.

cCeLL's Ultra-compact Microscope for intraoperative consultation during cancer surgery

VPIX Medical, Inc. designed cCeLL, a digital biopsy platform, to circumvent the limitations of frozen biopsy. cCeLL’s handheld miniaturized microscope can acquire instantaneous images of stained tissues or organs by bringing the probe in contact with the stained tissue or organ. cCeLL, which is primarily utilized during cancer surgery, is subdivided into cCeLL-Ex vivo and cCeLL-in vivo, depending on the application. cCeLL-Ex vivo is an ex vivo diagnostic device that applies dye to excised tissue during surgery and then acquires images of cellular tissue in real time, reducing the time required for frozen biopsy from more than 30 minutes to just few minutes. cCeLL-In vivo can obtain tissue images non-invasively. After spraying or injecting fluorescent dye to the patient, surgeons can transmit images, instead of actual tissues, to pathologist, allowing pathologist to provide intraoperative guidance in real-time so that surgeons can make a surgical decision even before resection.

Additionally, cCeLL, which is smaller than laparoscopic surgical instruments, can be utilized for minimally invasive laparoscopic surgery, robotic surgery, and real-time biopsy screening to determine specimen adequacy. In addition, VPIX Medical, Inc. is contemplating the development of an AI diagnosis assistance system that identifies the likelihood of cancer cells using big data and deep learning on the basis of images acquired from cCeLL. In recognition of this ground-breaking technology, VPIX Medical, Inc. is garnering attention as an up-and-coming powerhouse in the healthcare industry, including being selected as one of the 'Baby Unicorn 200' by the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and 12 K-innovative companies. Also VPIX Medical, Inc. is the finalist of Medtech Innovator Asia pacific and the 2021 winner of the Seoul Quick Fire Challenge hosted by Johnson & Johnson Korea.

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