PHIRE

Health programs crave for diagnostic imaging and eradication of chemoresistant neoplastic lesions smaller than 1 mm of size. PHIRE, based on the outcomes from EDIT (FET-OPEN-RIA, GA#801126), aims at bringing closer to market a novel high-resolution theranostic medical device effective in the clinical applications for lesions <1 mm, ready for application in human bladder cancer and effective both in male and female patients. The PHIRE solution will be developed using swine model and will include: - an add-on module for pre-existing off-the shelf photoacoustic device allowing to perform photoacoustic imaging of hollow organs located deeper in human body, designed to be used in combination with - an artificial intelligence-assisted prediction map for the image-guided gold nanorods assisted photo-thermal therapy, - a large-scale synthesis of urine-stable gold nanorods for clinical use. The adoption for clinical applications of this new device will reduce the frequency of the bladder tumor relapse and the number of patients with relapsing tumor, with a drastic positive impact on the quality of life of patients while reducing the social cost of the management of patients. Furthermore, PHIRE’s results will open up the way for the deployment of theranostic application against lesions <1 mm in other hollow human organs. PHIRE innovative solutions will also be applicable to other markets, such as that of photoacoustic and diagnostic imaging, gold nanoparticles, cystoscopy and medical software.