Marta Guardiola, PhD, Glòria Fernández-Espàrrach, PhD, and Ignasi Belda, PhD | MiWEndo Solutions
Competition Sponsor: EIT Health
Awardee Year: 2020
Colonoscopy is the most effective method for CRC diagnosis but still misses 22% of polys due to visual limitations. Our value proposition is a small ring-shaped accessory attachable at the distal end of a conventional colonoscope that complements optical colonoscopy with microwave imaging that: 1) identifies automatically – with an alarm – polyps in 360º inside the colon without changing the clinical practice and 2) diagnoses the grade of dysplasia or malignancy of such identified polyps. Our target customers are endoscopists willing to improve their outcomes. MWI is a science that obtains anatomical and functional information of targets using electromagnetic waves in the regime of the microwaves based on changes in their dielectric properties. We conducted a proof-of-concept study that anticipated that the dielectric properties can univocally differentiate healthy colon mucosa, cancer, and different histological types of polyps in an ex vivo colon tissue sample study with 23 patients.
To learn more about this proposal, email healthylongevity@nas.edu.