SonoClear AS

The extent of resection of brain tumor is highly correlated with survival and quality of life, but difficulty in identifying tumor borders and incomplete tumor resection remain key challenges that neurosurgeons face during brain tumor surgery. To guide resection, intraoperative ultrasound in brain tumor surgery is used in routine practice due to its properties of providing real-time updates and its superb versatility. However, image quality is hampered by enhancement artifacts by the current use of saline or Ringer in resection cavities for US coupling, making the images difficult to interpret. SonoClear has developed a novel and advanced acoustic coupling fluid ( SonoClear® ACF) that removes the image artifacts by mimicking the acoustic properties of normal brain tissue, providing a powerful clinical tool to achieve total resection of brain tumors. The invention and company stems from a collaboration of neurosurgeons and engineers at the Norwegian National Advisory Unit for Ultrasound and Image-Guided Therapy. The patented technology platform is further applied to improve surgical outcomes in coronary bypass surgery grafting, breast conserving surgery and colorectal cancer staging. SonoClear was established in 2016 as a spin off from the Ultrasound and Image-Guided Therapy Centre in Trondheim. The Trondheim area in Central Norway is considered one of the top medical ultrasound clusters in the world, with several prominent institutions and companies.