Akrotome Imaging, Inc.

Advances in cancer diagnostics have enabled the detection of cancer at its earliest stages when the chances for successful intervention are highest. For many tumors, surgery offers the best option for a cure, with the potential to remove all cancer tissue from the patient (a complete resection). However, the full potential of surgery is not realized because, in many cases, it is difficult for surgeons to see where cancer tissue ends and healthy tissue begins. Akrotome (a combination of two Greek words that means cutting at the edge) is focused on the development of fluorescent molecular probe technologies that light up cancer, enabling clear and precise visualization of tumors, with emphasis on tumor margins, where the cancer is growing rapidly and where invasion into healthy tissue occurs. Akrotome provides surgeons with the visualization tools they need to guide them to achieve complete resection of cancer tissue.