Scade Medical, (http://scademedical.com) was founded in 2013 by Dr. Ofir Aharon and Mr. Gabi Mizrahi along with first two investors Mr. Shlomi Swissa and Mr. Shy Zyman and approved by the Israeli Chief Scientist and the Singapore Israel Industrial R&D Foundation (SIIRD). and approved by the Israeli Chief Scientist and the Singapore Israel Industrial R&D Foundation (SIIRD).  The startup’s patented prototype scanner, BlueSky, is based on DOSI (differential optical spectro-polarimetric imaging) technology that Aharon invented, providing real-time data not otherwise available to dermatologists.

In preliminary clinical studies at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheva, DOSI technology achieved a 100 percent detection rate in 77 skin lesions. A proof-of-concept (POC) study of 139 lesions, carried out in five clinics in Jerusalem, Rome, and Texas, showed nearly 92% specificity and 100% sensitivity.

In the proof of concept, the new DOSI method showed correlation to histology proved about four times better than a simple clinical prognosis using standard dermoscopy, says Aharon.  “We’ve already saved seven lives at the clinics where we tested our device. One 25-year-old woman who agreed to participate in a DOSI scan said she had a mole on her leg for many years. They scanned it with my machine and I saw a distortion.”

Although five dermatologists believed the mole to be harmless, Aharon persuaded them to remove it for closer examination.

“It turned out to be melanoma in an advanced stage. In another few weeks, the tissue would have metastasized. Without the DOSI method she would be dead now,” says Aharon.

Prof. Avner Shemer, a senior dermatologist at Sheba Medical Center in Tel HaShomer, says he believes the BlueSky prototype shows great potential for helping dermatologists make a more certain melanoma diagnosis and could even be used at home by patients to check their own moles.

“Every other day, patients come to my clinic asking to be screened for skin cancer,” Shemer tells ISRAEL21c. The primary tool to do this is a dermoscope, but a biopsy is needed if a mark looks suspicious.

“Ofir’s invention is the first dynamic dermoscope,” he says. “It emphasizes the polarized nature inside the lesion that looks different when one compares a benign lesion to cancer using the DOSI method.

According to the World Health Organization, about 132,000 new cases of melanoma are diagnosed worldwide each year. Melanoma kills an estimated one American every hour and is particularly prevalent in Australia and New Zealand. These are three of the seven countries in which DOSI is patented.
Scade Medical is led by a multidisciplinary team of entrepreneurs and executives from the medical-device industry, together with an advisory board of dermatologists and surgeons.  Dr. Leon Gilead, a senior skin surgeon at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, is the company’s medical director.

In order to reach Aharon’s goal of becoming the gold standard for early detection of melanoma and underneath abnormalities, Scade Medical is forming a board of directors (recently, Shy Zyman became the chairman of the board) and preparing to raise between $3 million and $5 million to transfer the BlueSky prototype into a product and begin clinical trials for approval of the FDA (US), CE (Europe) and MDSAP (Canada).

Aharon says the total addressable market for dermatology devices is more than $1 billion in the US alone.

For further information – Dr. Ofir Aharon, Inventor, and CTO, SCADE Medical tel 052-6164669  email: ofir at scademedical.com

Source – Israel21C https://www.israel21c.org/moms-melanoma-leads-to-israeli-device-for-early-detection/