Skip to playerSkip to main content
  • 6 hours ago
AstraNICE makes the invisible visible — in real time, through layers of biological tissue. By combining breakthrough fluorescent chemistry, near-infrared optics and AI, AstraNICE delivers a 30x brighter signal than current injected dyes, enabling surgeons to detect hidden instruments and structures with unprecedented precision. Professor Michele Diana will demonstrate live how surgical tools, invisible to the naked eye, can be instantly revealed through organs and tissue layers — redefining what's possible in minimally invasive surgery.

Category

🤖
Tech
Transcript
00:00It helps doctors see exactly where their instruments are,
00:06help deep inside the body, suffer surgery, more precision.
00:11Today, they bring on stage with a live demo on artificial tissue.
00:17Please welcome, Michele Diana from Astra.
00:22Nice!
00:23Hello, Michele.
00:25Thank you, thank you.
00:25How are you?
00:26Very well.
00:27You have something on your back.
00:28Yeah, I have something on my back.
00:29Oh my god.
00:31Yeah, hi everybody.
00:33Yeah, this is a fake column that we will use for a little demo.
00:38But maybe I first introduce myself a little bit and the company.
00:43So I'm Michele Diana, I'm a digestive surgeon.
00:48And I'm a translational scientist in surgical data science, robotics, and advanced imaging.
00:57So literally augmenting the senses that are required to perform precision surgery.
01:02So we operate with the hands, augmented with robotics.
01:05We see with the eyes, augmented with advanced imaging modalities.
01:09And of course, then what ties everything together is the brain.
01:14So surgical data science.
01:15So surgical data science.
01:16And with Astra Nice, we try to put all this together.
01:22So what we have developed is based on three pillars.
01:28So our core technology is a chemical compound, which we call internally Astra View.
01:35This is a polymer which expresses fluorescent properties.
01:45Fluorescence is the physical mechanism in which, upon illumination with a given wavelength, the compound will respond to a different
01:57wavelength.
01:58And this allows us to see through layers of tissue.
02:02Literally, we can make invisible things visible and you will have a real-time demonstration.
02:08A second pillar, of course, is software.
02:12We have a proprietary software that allows to compute the fluorescent signal and provide standardized data.
02:21And then we have also a little hardware that has been made by our R&D head.
02:31And this is the first, and so far only, portable and wireless near-infrared camera.
02:37So I'll just show you a couple of videos first.
02:43This is a study on the human specimen.
02:49What you will see here, this is a catheter that has been inserted into the ureter.
02:55So the ureter is the tube that connects the kidney to the bladder.
02:59And actually, this ureter can be injured during surgical procedures because the surgeon didn't see it.
03:06But obviously, I don't think that you need a randomized clinical trial to understand that if you can see it
03:11so beautifully,
03:13actually, the chances that you injure it are lower.
03:18And then, this is another application.
03:21This is a clip that a gastroenterologist will place near to the tumor.
03:27For example, in the colon, that's why we brought a colon model here.
03:30And this is in the stomach.
03:32So I'm sorry if a, this is surgical images, right?
03:36In real time.
03:38So I mean, in a minimally invasive.
03:40But that's a real thing.
03:41So you see, this is the stomach.
03:43The surgeon is spooling it.
03:45And you don't see what the clip is.
03:46But when you turn the near infrared on, then you will see it appearing through the tissues.
03:50And now, if we can move to the demonstration, please.
03:58So, we will first start with something very simple.
04:02Because there is no electronics.
04:04This is pure chemistry.
04:04So I just put a, literally, you can paint it.
04:08You can consider it as like a nail polish.
04:11So here we have a Eppendorf tube that we just painted a little bit on it.
04:16And let's simulate as this is a clip into a colon.
04:20So, I will go into the colon.
04:25Like a gastroenterologist.
04:28So, and everybody who is above 50, this is a cancer awareness period.
04:42So, so you see, look on the, on the left side, you have white light images.
04:49You see?
04:49And on the, sorry, on the left side, and on the right side, you have the Eppendorf that
04:55you are seeing through, trust me, this is a very thick tissue.
05:00And thanks to the fact that the, this is a meeting, this is responding to the excitation
05:07at a different wavelength.
05:09And we can go down to 1.3 centimeters.
05:12After I will do something funny for you.
05:14So, if we can move to another demonstration.
05:21We have some devices.
05:24Let's start with the clip.
05:26So this is a, this is the clip, endoscopic clip.
05:30The gastroenterologist will place this, uh, near to, next to a tumor.
05:38And you see how bright you can see on the right side, but this is not the, you don't appreciate
05:43this in the, in this case to appreciate.
05:48I will put the clip into this catheter.
05:52And you will see that this is on the left side, it will be completely invisible.
05:56And on the right side, you see the clip shining through it.
06:01And trust me, this is also pretty thick.
06:03And also see, it is very opaque.
06:06Um, and yeah, I mean, we have a different equipment here.
06:11Maybe we can show them all together.
06:13So we have a, uh, urinary catheter.
06:17We have PVC.
06:19We have some needles.
06:21Basically, we have surveyed 242 surgeons and found 60 relevant clinical applications.
06:27Um, just maybe, uh, uh, but we, we are not only in healthcare.
06:32We are also thinking about other applications in, uh, namely in, uh, cyber security counterfeiting.
06:41Uh, and just, I want you to appreciate something.
06:48Okay.
06:49Can you put the black one?
06:50So it's ham, uh, ham, literally ham.
06:54The closest thing I found to simulate, uh, tissue.
06:58I mean, uh, that's the muscles, right?
07:00So here you have, you see, uh, left side is white light.
07:06Right side is nearing friend.
07:08First slice of ham.
07:11You see, uh, I mean, this is pretty, this is pretty opaque, right?
07:15You don't see through it.
07:16Right.
07:16And you see, uh, upon illumination, you can, uh, see what's going on there.
07:22I mean, uh, you see the, the spot, put the second slice.
07:27You keep on seeing, put the third slice.
07:32I put the fourth slice.
07:36And actually you still can see where the signal is coming from, right?
07:40But the surgery is done all the reverse of what I'm doing here.
07:43So surgery is by dissection.
07:46So you discover it.
07:48So I'm doing it all the other way.
07:50You see, Oh, okay.
07:50I see something.
07:51It could be a lymph node, right?
07:53Let me, let me dig into it.
07:55And so I remove one layer.
07:57Oh, wow.
07:57I'm on the right path.
07:59So I remove another one.
08:01Yes.
08:01It's, it's coming.
08:03I remove another layer and here I am.
08:07So literally this is a GPS, a visual GPS for surgical applications.
08:13And as I was telling you, uh, I don't know how much time I've left.
08:18Um, but we are not only in healthcare.
08:20We are in everything that, uh, in which making invisible things visible through layers of tissue can be interesting.
08:25And for example, uh, can I show this already?
08:30So if someone wants to witness a, this is a completely white paper, right?
08:34There is nothing written on it.
08:36Well, everybody agrees.
08:38And, uh, yeah, that's what happens when it goes under near infrared light.
08:43So there is our logo.
08:44And eventually there is a, if you can scan it, it will be on our website.
08:52Thank you so much.
08:57Questions?
08:59Oh, Eric, maybe.
09:04Thank you so much.
09:06Mr. Dayan.
09:07Can we have a round of applause again?
09:10I'll let you go back with all your stuff.
09:13Yeah.
09:14Oh, this is, uh, yeah.
09:16It's a real one.
09:17It's inside.
09:17It looks very, it's very, I mean, this is a, a, what we used to train.
09:22Woo.
Comments

Recommended