UCL spin-off showcases pioneering device to breast cancer surgeons

A UCL spin-off company has given a global audience of surgeons and oncologists a glimpse of a pioneering breast cancer treatment device. Endomagnetics Ltd is commercialising a magnetic sensing platform developed at the London Centre for Nanotechnology at UCL and the Texas Centre for Superconductivity at the University of Houston. The company launched its first product, the SentiMag ; ' an intra-operative device to locate the breast's sentinel lymph node ' in front of 8,500 surgeons and oncologists at the annual San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in Texas in mid-December 2009. Professor Quentin Pankhurst, who co-founded the company, said the response from the audience had been 'overwhelmingly positive? and 'validated the core Endomagnetics proposition of offering a surgeon-friendly and cost-effective alternative to radioactive materials for the treatment of breast cancer'. Globally, 1.25 million new cases of breast cancer are diagnosed each year. With lifestyle changes, this figure is increasing by around 20,000 cases year on year across the developed and developing world. In nearly all cases, surgery is required to remove the tumour.