Nine Teams Announced to Advance ARPA-H Precision Surgical Interventions | Precisely Removing Solid Tumors

Cancer affects millions of people per year worldwide. For solid tumors, surgical removal is often performed. Yet during surgery, it can be difficult to tell where a tumor ends and healthy tissue begins due to a lack of contrast. Multiple surgeries are often required to successfully remove an entire tumor. Precision Surgical Interventions (PSI) aims to help all surgical procedures reach their intended goal with no errors and no need for re-operation. The program aims to develop solutions to two major surgical problems: tumor edge visualization and critical anatomy visualization.

PSI seeks to develop technologies that will be used by surgeons during operations to visualize tumors’ edges, in order to increase chances of complete removal. If successful, these technologies will revolutionize surgeries, dramatically reducing rates of repeat procedures. They can also reduce instances of unintentional injury to critical structures such as nerves, blood vessels or lymph ducts. These imaging tools may also be used to improve other types of surgeries.