Electroporation ablation generator with real-time endpoint
This technology adds real-time feedback to electroporation-based tissue ablation, a minimally invasive cancer treatment that uses electrical pulses to destroy cells. Before and during the procedure, the system sends low-level test signals through the same electrodes used for treatment and continuously measures how the tissue's electrical resistance changes as cells are destroyed. When the measured impedance falls within a target range, treatment continues; when it falls outside that range, the system automatically stops, signaling that the ablation is complete or that something has gone wrong. The result is a closed-loop ablation system that can confirm treatment success in the operating room rather than relying on post-procedure imaging.
What you could build
A next-generation irreversible electroporation (IRE) generator with integrated impedance-based endpoint detection, sold to hospitals and interventional oncology centers as an upgrade to or replacement for existing systems like NovaBay or AngioDynamics' NanoKnife platform.
Who in Virginia should care
Virginia hospital systems and academic medical centers (e.g., UVA Health, Inova) with interventional oncology programs would be natural early clinical partners.
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
- Robert Neal II, Rafael V. Davalos
- Filed
- Patent pending — filed December 4, 2023
- Status
- Application
- Publication number
- US20240173063A1
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.