Dune's first product, the MarginProbe™, is a disposable hand-held device that is designed for use by surgeons performing lumpectomies in order to intraoperatively assess tumor margin in real time.
In today's standard breast partial mastectomy (lumpectomy) procedure, surgeons remove cancerous specimens, which are sent for pathological analysis. The pathologist determines whether the margins of the excised specimen are free of cancerous tissue or not. Tumor free margins are a crucial condition for the success of the operation.
Typically, the pathological analysis is available to the surgeon 24 hours, or more, after the surgery. Thus, if the pathologist finds cancer cells on the margin of the excised lump, the patient is most likely to come in for a second surgery, which is painful, costly, and often involves massive damage to healthy breast tissue. Literature indicates that thirty percent of lumpectomy procedures result in an unsatisfactory margin condition. After completion of its clinical trials, Dune intends to significantly reduce the need for repeat surgery by providing surgeons with a real-time indication of the malignancy status of the resection margin.
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