• What is the problem/issue being addressed?
Breast cancer is the most commonly occurring cancer among women and the second most common cancer overall. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) the number of new breast cancer cases in 2018 is estimated at the level of 2,1 m. It means that every 15 seconds someone is diagnosed with breast cancer. Moreover, breast cancer is the 5th most common cause of death from cancer.
Since 2012 worldwide breast cancer incidence increased by more than 23% and mortality by 14%. Bearing that in mind, ONCOscanner deals with both societal and market issue.
The main goal of breast conserving surgery (BCS) is the complete removal of cancer with clear surgical margins while maintaining the natural shape of the breast. However, there is a conict between obtaining an adequate excision margin around the tumor and not removing too much tissue, which may result in breast deformity. Currently, about 20-30% of patients require reoperation after a BCS, what contributes to: decreased patient satisfaction, increased health care costs and poorer cosmetic results. ONCOscanner will decrease this percentage, as it enables the surgeon to better recognise which sections of tissue still need to be removed.
• Why is it important for society?
Basing on the information from WHO that the number of new cases of breast cancer is at the level of 2,1 m in 2018, and assuming that the average percentage of breast conserving surgery will constitute about 60%, we received 1,26 m of patients who potentially will undergo BCS. Taking the rate of reoperation after lumpectomy of about 25%, then 315 000 people will possibly have to repeat their operation only in one year. If ONCOscanner probe was used worldwide, even 70% of the mentioned patients could probably avoid the reoperation procedure (by multiplying number of potentially saved patients by average cost of re-operation €11 000, the total cost benefit to society would be as high as €2,426 m).
Moreover, a study presented at the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposiumon showed that about 23% of 9 837 women who underwent breast-conserving surgery for breast cancer between 2010 and 2013, had at least 1 repeated surgery. The average cost for patients who underwent a second breast surgery was $16 072 higher than for those who had a single surgery. Investigators also found that 34,8% of patients who underwent a repeated surgery experienced at least 1 complication compared with 23,6% of those who had 1 surgery, corresponding to a 47% higher risk of complications among patients undergoing a repeated surgery.
To sum up, the main market issue for implementing our innovative oncological probe is the increasing demand for devices capable of intra-operatively identifying the type of cells of collected tissues. Continuously increasing number of breast cancer cases resulted in higher demand and the need to equip operating rooms in such type of devices. Moreover, the overall social awareness in the context of this disease is growing – more and more people are deciding to examine themselves, what causes an upward trend in the number of diagnosed cancers at the early stages of development – which in turn favors the increase in the number of breast cancer surgery operations carried out using the conservative method. Additionally, the trend is imposed by the need to reduce costs by treatment centers and the need to increase the quality of services provided.
• What are the overall objectives?
The objectives of the Project included:
• Identification of potential technical challenges that should be addressed before or during the industrial research stage,
• Identification of crucial resources needed to success of the next stage of product development,
• Developing exploitation, dissemination, innovation & IP management strategy;
• Examining the financial viability,
• Determination of the optimum strategy for maximising the territorial scope of the implementation of the technology.
