Cape Town, South Africa, 12 June 2020. CapeRay is pleased to announce the award of a UK Patent (GB2566942) entitled, “Multimodal imaging system and method.” This invention extends the company’s intellectual property in the field of breast imaging by combining 3D digital X-ray tomosynthesis (seen below left) and 3D automated ultrasound (seen below right) in a single integrated system. The patient lies in a supine position and the 3D images are acquired sequentially with the breasts in the same orientation and degree of compression under the influence of gravity.

As pointed out by Kit Vaughan, CEO of CapeRay, “Digital breast tomosynthesis or DBT, often referred to as 3D mammography, continues to miss some cancers, particularly in women with dense breast tissue. These false negative findings can have devastating consequences for the patient – more costly treatment and a poorer prognosis. That is why the addition of 3D automated breast ultrasound or ABUS is so critical. Although ultrasound lacks the spatial resolution of X-rays, it is capable of penetrating and distinguishing tissues of different densities remarkably well.”

Roland Baasch, co-inventor and a senior engineer at CapeRay, commented: “Patents give us a platform to develop new products and allow us the freedom to exploit our ideas in the increasingly competitive world of medical imaging. CapeRay has always been driven to bring innovations to market, and this newly awarded patent is another step towards that goal.” The patent is currently under examination by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and taking full advantage of the Patent Prosecution Highway (PPH). As highlighted by Érik van der Vyver, CapeRay’s patent attorney at Von Seidels, “The major benefits of the PPH are much faster grant times and higher success rates.”

As often happen with inventions, there is a degree of serendipity involved. Vaughan explained, “We set out to develop a novel method to gather 3D X-ray and ultrasound images of the breast. What we then discovered is that, with the patient lying face-down in a prone position, it is possible to acquire 3D dual-modality images of the lungs. This means that we could, at least in principle, be able to diagnose lung diseases such as pneumonia and Covid-19.”

About CapeRay Medical: Located in Cape Town, South Africa, CapeRay is the innovative medical device company that has imagined, engineered and clinically tested dual-modality technology for the early detection of breast cancer. For further information about the ground-breaking Aceso system or the company, please visit the website: https://www.caperay.com.

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