The current ways of dealing with various types of cancer are incredibly invasive. They either include complex surgeries or scary chemo treatments. Only a minority of patients can be treated with mini-invasive procedures, like interventional oncology, because until now it is difficult to perform

Gianpietro Pasquon was captured by the project of Alessandro Rotilio and Luigi Solbiati, a KOL of interventional oncology aiming to make the lives of both patients and doctors easier. For that reason, he co-founded R.A.W. srl – an Italian med-tech start-up incepted in Milan in 2015. Their product Endosight helps make Interventional Oncology a routine procedure in every hospital, requiring neither expensive equipment nor years-long training.

What Problems Does Endosight Solve

“The mission of the company is enabling the rapid expansion of minimally-invasive tumor ablation techniques as a reliable alternative to surgeries for cancer treatments,” explains Gianpietro Pasquon, CFO and COO of R.A.W. srl.

The vision of Endosight is to make this type of intervention easier and more precise through the application of new technologies, such as:

• augmented reality;
• segmentation; and
• 3D reconstruction of radiological images.

Endosight is the first Augmented Reality guided ablative system. By using a pair of smart goggles, Endosight allows the physician to literally see through the patient and position the probe at the right coordinates, with outstanding precision.

The software uses artificial vision, image processing, and 3D tracking to provide a highly accurate device for tumor targeting and ablation.

Client Stories and Biggest Achievements

Nowadays, Interventional Oncology procedures are very difficult to perform. However, Endosight makes them easier than a walk in the park. “During our test, an apprentice radiologist had the same performance as an experienced one,” proudly shares Mr. Pasquon.

After almost 6 years, R.A.W. srl’s team managed to develop 2 CE-marked products. These include:

• Endosight: a 3D navigation system based on augmented reality for guiding the needle to reach the targeted tumor.
• Ablation-fit: a 3D safety margin detector that assesses the full ablation of the tumor, including a safety margin.

Future Aspirations

“These two innovative products can really allow Interventional Oncology to be possible for a wider community of physicians and patients,” says Gianpietro Pasquon.

They spread the possibility of reaching high accuracy and proper timing. In turn, this reduces costs while improving performance. That creates a win-win situation.

Relation with InvestHorizon

“I came across InvestHorizon while attending the bootcamp in Milan last October. There, I discovered an interesting network of selected start-ups and organisers that helped me to better understand and explain our project. I discovered an international, high-quality accelerator,” concludes Gianpietro Pasquon.