Real-time impedance sensor for ablation lesion confirmation
This technology is a sensor system that monitors what is happening inside tissue in real time during ablation therapies — procedures that destroy tumors or disrupt cell membranes using heat, electricity, or similar energy. The sensor array measures electrical impedance at two very different frequency ranges simultaneously, which reveals distinct tissue properties: low-frequency measurements capture how well electrical current flows between cells, while high-frequency measurements capture properties of the cells themselves. Combined with temperature sensing on the same substrate, the system gives clinicians a live, multi-dimensional picture of how tissue is changing during treatment. This allows doctors to know precisely when a target area has been adequately treated and avoid damaging surrounding healthy tissue.
What you could build
A disposable or reusable sensor probe integrated with ablation catheters or applicators that feeds real-time impedance and temperature data to a treatment console, giving interventional radiologists and oncologists live confirmation of lesion formation. Medical device companies making ablation systems for cancer treatment — hepatic, renal, or cardiac — would be the primary buyers.
Who in Virginia should care
Virginia-based hospitals and cancer centers such as UVA Health or Inova, as well as mid-Atlantic medical device integrators and contract manufacturers, would be natural partners or early customers.
Readiness: Lab validated
Concept — described but not yet demonstrated. Lab validated — supported by experimental results in the patent. Prototype likely — the text describes a built, working embodiment.
Readiness is inferred from the patent text, not from a lab visit.
The record
- Inventors
- Rafael V. Davalos, Mohammad Bonakdar, Eduardo L. Latouche, Roop L. Mahajan, John L. Robertson, Christopher B. Arena, Michael B. Sano
- Granted
- February 20, 2024
- Status
- Granted patent
- Patent number
- 11903690
Ready to talk?
Virginia Tech Intellectual Properties handles licensing for this technology.
Prosim summaries are generated from public patent text and are not legal advice.