K-State researchers announce clinical study for improved lung cancer treatment
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Jan Sebek, research assistant professor in the Mike Wiegers Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Kansas State University, works in the Biomedical Computing and Devices Laboratory directed by Punit Prakash. Prakash's research team helped develop a bronchoscopic microwave ablation treatment now in the clinical study phase in Australia that could allow for the treatment of small lung tumors via a single-session procedure that would also improve patient safety and reduce cost. | Download this photo.
MANHATTAN — A team of Kansas State University researchers has developed an improved treatment for lung cancer, and project collaborators have completed the first procedure in Australia as part of a clinical study.
The improved bronchoscopic microwave ablation treatment could treat small lung tumors in a single-session procedure that would improve patient safety and reduce cost. The clinical study is designed to assess the safety and technical feasibility of the phenoWave microwave ablation system.
Kansas State University, in collaboration with Royal Melbourne Hospital, phenoMapper LLC, and Australian Healthcare Solutions, announced the completion of the first bronchoscopic microwave ablation treatment by Daniel Steinfort, professor of medicine at Royal Melbourne Hospital, and his team.
"The ablation procedure was straightforward and required skills that all interventional pulmonologists would possess," Steinfort said. "Deployment of the ablation catheter to the site of the treatment target was as simple as any diagnostic sampling procedure. This raises the exciting prospect of being able to deliver curative ablation treatment to small lung tumors via a safe and widely available procedure modality in a single treatment session."
The phenoWave microwave ablation system is designed to coagulate soft tissue by applying thermal energy for bronchoscopic lung tissue ablation. This advancement will enable physicians to diagnose and treat any lesions in the lungs in a single session in the future, which improves patient safety and reduces cost.
The phenoWave system's underlying technology was jointly developed by the research team led by K-State engineer Punit Prakash and industry partner phenoMapper LLC under a National Cancer Institute academic-industry partnership R01 grant. Prakash is the recipient of the Paul L. Spainhour professorship in electrical engineering and a professor in the Mike Wiegers Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
"We are excited to announce the first bronchoscopic lung microwave ablation treatment in Australia," Prakash said. "Our project has greatly benefited from close collaboration between investigators in the Carl R. Ice College of Engineering, the College of Veterinary Medicine, and our industry and clinical partners, as well as support from the Johnson Cancer Research Center in the College of Arts and Sciences and K-State Innovation Partners. This is an exciting milestone in the advancement of image-guided flexible microwave ablation technology."
