May 23, 2017 FORT COLLINS, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Colorado State University’s Flint Animal Cancer Center and Synaptive Medical Inc. are collaborating to develop an intraoperative imaging and sensing technology to more accurately detect and treat brain tumors.
Dr. Rebecca Packer, an associate professor of neurology and neurosurgery at Colorado State University, is the first neurosurgeon in the world to use Synaptive’s Raman spectroscopy research system to explore clinical biomarkers that can assist in surgical resection of tumors. The system also improves the preservation of normal brain tissue.
Dr. Packer's research focuses on developing novel therapies for brain tumors while advancing precision medicine and innovation for humans and veterinary patients. Her ultimate goal? To develop accurate and less invasive neurosurgical techniques and therapies to treat brain tumors, in part by improving intraoperative imaging to more accurately detect and resect tumors during surgery. Intraoperative means occurring or performed during surgery.
CSU's veterinarians, clinicians and staff are firm believers in the One Health Initiative approach to cancer research, in which veterinary and human medicine share a common goal. This is also known as comparative oncology.
“There are many similarities between canine and human brain tumors," said Dr. Packer. "As such, knowledge gained from clinical trials in our veterinary brain tumor patients may also help advance therapies for humans.”
Synaptive Medical is undertaking collaborative efforts to interconnect and optimize the secure flow of imaging and non-imaging data while integrating it into existing surgical technologies. “Novel sensing technologies would support a surgeon when she is performing a procedure and when rapid clinical decisions need to be made,” said Cameron Piron, Synaptive’s president and co-founder. “The Flint Animal Cancer Center is among the best in the world for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer in pet animals, and this is a natural collaboration for us to advance both veterinary and human neurosurgery.”
The incidence of a recurrent brain tumor in humans remains high and researchers believe it could be minimized with greater levels of resection. Some brain tumors are so visually like normal brain tissue that differentiation is challenging, particularly when removing adjacent healthy tissue could compromise brain function.
