A drop-in robotic gamma probe for minimally invasive radioguided surgery

Abstract

Radioguided surgery (RGS) techniques have been developed to enable more accurate and selective nodal identification and dissection in cancer patients [1]. The most well-established application of RGS is sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB), and use of a technetium- 99m (99mTc)-labelled radiotracer in combination with a fluorescent or blue dye is the recommended technique for optimal sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection in those malignancies [2-3]. Minimally-invasive radioguided SLN procedures currently rely on the use of rigid laparoscopic gamma probes (RLGPs), which have limited manoeuvrability and control due to their rigidity and dimensions. To address these limitations, miniaturised ‘drop-in’ gamma probes have been developed by different groups, with each probe having different design and performance features [4]. Our group has developed the SENSEI® drop-in gamma probe in collaboration with Lightpoint Medical Ltd. The probe can be used in both robotic and laparoscopic surgery due to its design. Here we present the design and technical characteristics of the device, the interim clinical trial results in prostate cancer (PCa) and the planned clinical study in rectal cancer (RCa).