Devices & Diagnostics, Startups

Breast cancer: Cianna Medical nets $4M for tumor localization tool

Cianna Medical's new, FDA-cleared SAVI Scout device meant to improve the efficacy of tumor removal in breast cancer surgeries.

Cianna Medical, the maker of a next-gen brachytherapy technique, has just raised some equity to bring its new device, the SAVI Scout, to market. It’s meant to improve the efficacy of tumor removal in breast cancer surgeries.

The company just brought in a $4 million equity round from nine investors, according to a regulatory filing.

Based on a conversation with CEO Jill Anderson earlier this year, the funding will help launch the SAVI Scout on the market. The device has been FDA-cleared since December.

The device is meant to be an improvement on the current standard of care, called wire localization. This involves guiding a wire during mammography that points to the abnormal tissue – so that in surgery, doctors can use it as an arrow to point to the tumor.

“The standard technology now is pretty inadequate, but surgeons have been dealing with it for 20 years,” Anderson said. “It’s a universally understood problem.”

The SAVI Scout, by contrast, works by using electromagnetic waves to detect a reflector, inserted in the target tissue up to a week before surgery. From there, surgeons use a handheld SAVI Scout device that emits infrared light and electromagnetic waves – so as to locate the reflector.

By finding the reflector, surgeons can more accurately choose where to make an incision – and determine how much tissue to remove. This way, the idea is that throughout the process, surgeons receive real-time guidance for the lumpectomy.

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