Twente Medical Optics

Globally, every year about 4.5 million people suffer from second-degree burn injuries. These people are treated in either one of the 2300 dedicated burn units, or in other general hospitals/clinics. Surgeons wait up to 8 days before they can accurately assess whether the burn will heal on its own or whether surgery is needed. The prolonged waiting time results in consuming more hospital resources and extra scarring on patients, which leads to re-surgeries later on. Alternatively, surgeons can decide to make a treatment decision after 2 days already, but their examination is correct only 60-70% of the time, leading to unnecessary surgery. Twente Medical Optics offers a compact and easy-to-use device, the handheld perfusion imager (HAPI), to assist surgeons in making a better decision 2 days post-burn. The HAPI measures the amount of blood flow within the burn wound and thereby helps the surgeon to accurately determine whether surgery is needed. Therefore, costs could be saved by either avoiding unnecessary surgeries (ca.€1,300 per patient) or shortening hospital stays (ca. €1,000 per patient) based on the Dutch data.

There are systems on the market that can improve accuracy in a similar way using bulky mounted Laser Doppler (LDI) and Laser Speckle Contrast Imaging (LSCI) technologies. However, these solutions are only used in a small percentage of burn facilities worldwide. The simple reason is that physicians do not want to use them because they disrupt their workflow to such a degree that it becomes an undesirable product. HAPI was developed to address this core user need of great accuracy without significant workflow disruption. Years of research have led to patented technology which allows LSCI to be used in a quick, mobile, and handheld way, empowering the physicians instead of burdening them. No longer will there be a barrier to shorter hospital stays and better outcomes afforded by the accurate LSCI technology, freeing the road for wide user adoption.

Our core team is composed of Kiki Liu (Future CEO, MBA and MSc, international experience in medical device industry), prof. Wiendelt Steenbergen (Future CSO, head of Biomedical Photonic Imaging Group, University of Twente) and Anne Rook (technical physician, PhD candidate, University of Twente). Our supporting team includes Berno Leerkotte (system engineer, 25+ years’ experience) and Tom Knop (technician, University of Twente). Additionally, we have Semme Moolenaar from NovelT as our business coach. In the foreseeable future, we will be further strengthened in financial and regulatory activities through specialized consultants. Our engineer and technician will collaborate with our contract engineering and manufacturing partners to further develop our product. The diverse yet balanced educational background and working experience of our team alongside our capable external partners serves our next milestone well: Further develop our product clinically, technically and regulatorily, to reach 510k clearance, and then start our commercial activities.