Culver City, California (PRWEB) June 27, 2016 -- The World Molecular Imaging Society (WMIS) announced today that they have completed an agreement to acquire the American Society of Image Guided Surgery (ASIGS). The ASIGS will operate in a joint association with the Optical Surgical Navigation interest group (OSN-IG) and maintain the ASIGS identity within the interest group.

“The merger of the two groups, ASIGS and OSN, completes the final stage of the evolution of OSN,” said James Basilion, Ph.D., Case Western Reserve University, Co-Chair OSN/ASIGS-IG. “This merger and the combined expertise of the membership will support the movement of MI agents and tools to proceed from molecules to mice to man.”

The current president of ASIGS, Eben Rosenthal, M.D., Stanford University, will maintain a leadership and chair position in the OSN-IG with a dedicated focus on ASIGS. ASIGS is comprised primarily of surgeons dedicated to the clinical translations of novel agents, while OSN has focused primarily on basic science and developing novel molecular imaging agents and new hardware. ASIGS was co-founded by Eben Rosenthal, Go van Dam and Kurt Zinn several years ago in order to bring oncologic surgeons together to discuss advances in this area.
“The OSN/ASIGS merger will bring novel agents closer to the clinic and enable surgeons, engineers and scientists to work together in this very fast moving field to help patients and improve outcomes in surgery,” said Eben Rosenthal, M.D., Stanford University, Co-Chair OSN/ASIGS-IG.

Optical imaging can be a very powerful intraoperative tool to mark and visualize tissues, cells, and biochemical events in real time while guiding the surgeon in radical resection to achieve optimal clinical results. Applications in human medicine have demonstrated the power of fluorescence imaging to enhance visualization during surgery. This is achieved with the utilization of laser light, CCD cameras, light emitting chemical agents, and ultraminiaturized microscopes. It is the goal of the WMIS to provide and support optical molecular imaging education, innovation, standardization, and translation to clinical use.

In recent years there has been an explosion in the number of optical imaging clinical trials with approximately 150 clinical trials currently listed on ClinicalTrials.gov. A study reported in Lancet Oncology by Walter Stummer et. al, found that tumour fluorescence enables more complete resections of contrast-enhancing tumour, leading to improved progression-free survival in patients with malignant glioma.

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