Collaboration with University Hospital RWTH Aachen on intraoperative cancer diagnostics
“Refined Laser Systems can significantly accelerate diagnostic processes in oncological surgery, benefiting not only our patients, but also doctors and the healthcare system itself.”
This assessment comes from Prof. Florian Vondran, Director of the Department for General, Visceral, Pediatric and Transplant Surgery at University Hospital RWTH Aachen, reflecting on the collaboration within the KIROP project.
Refined Laser Systems recently met with surgeons and pathologists in Aachen to discuss clinical applications of its diagnostic technology. One of the focus areas is pancreatic cancer, which remains one of the most challenging cancers, with a five year survival rate of around 12 percent.
During tumour surgery, one of the most critical questions is whether the resection is complete and all cancer cells have been removed. Today, this question often cannot be answered with certainty until the tissue has been processed and examined in a pathology laboratory, which may take days. In some cases, patients may require a second procedure.
The KIROP project addresses this challenge by developing approaches for real time intraoperative diagnostics. Refined Laser Systems is collaborating with University Hospital RWTH Aachen within a project funded through NRW’s Gesünder.IN.NRW programme.
The goal is to support pathologists and surgeons by bringing SRS based molecular diagnostics directly into pancreatic and liver cancer surgery. Using stimulated Raman microscopy, the system generates molecular images of fresh tissue at the point of care without staining, laboratory transport, or lengthy preparation.
