Uterine device for endometrial cancer

Pilar Coy

Universidad de Murcia, España

Currently, endometrial cancer is diagnosed through the analysis of tissue obtained in an endometrial biopsy, which is painful and, due to the small sample size, provides an inaccurate diagnosis in 55 % of cases. This makes it necessary to resort to more complex and costly interventions, such as hysteroscopy, to diagnose these patients. So there is an urgent need to develop an effective and less invasive test to detect this type of tumour.

Uterine fluid has great potential as a source of endometrial cancer-specific biomarkers. However, there are no suitable devices on the market to collect it, as those that are commercially available provide samples that are either contaminated by the bleeding that occurs during fluid aspiration, or diluted by the use of washes.

The team leading the project has designed a device that allows for the efficient and minimally invasive capillary collection of pure, uncontaminated uterine fluid. In this stage of the project, the aim is to obtain a mould that will enable the device to be manufactured from biocompatible material. Initially, the objective is to produce 200 units and conduct a feasibility study in patients from two hospitals to validate the medical device.

DUFIC, a device for in vivo uterine fluid collection

Stage 2