Deep Light Vision AB (DLV) announces strengthened clinical collaborations and important development milestones for its Ultrasound Optical Tomography (UOT) platform, a quantum-enabled imaging technology designed to provide functional information deep inside the body without ionizing radiation.
Two renowned physicians — Professor Sophia Zackrisson, MD, PhD (Professor of Diagnostic Radiology and Senior Consultant Radiologist, Skåne University Hospital) and Dr. Emilie Krite Svanberg, MD, PhD (Assistant Chief Consultant in Pediatric Anesthesia & Intensive Care, Skåne University Hospital) — are collaborating with DLV to explore how UOT can improve image diagnostics in breast cancer and neonatal care, respectively.
DLV is currently preparing to participate in the first clinical study in UOT breast imaging, led by Professor Zackrisson, and has already demonstrated first in-human, whole-breast in vivo imaging with its latest prototype.
First in-human whole-breast imaging and plans for clinical breast study
Deep Light Vision is initiating preparations for a clinical pilot study in breast cancer, in which the company’s UOT technology will be evaluated in women. The study is led by Professor Sophia Zackrisson, Senior Consultant in diagnostic radiology at Lund University and Skåne University Hospital, and is planned to include ten voluntary healthy participants.
The primary objective of the planned study is to confirm safety and tolerability when DLV’s UOT system is used on the breast. At the same time, the study will explore the technology’s ability to visualize structures throughout the entire breast with good contrast, without ionizing radiation.
In parallel, DLV has developed a new UOT prototype as a ground for feasibility of clinical-scale diagnostic imaging with UOT.
“Breast cancer is the leading cancer for women, and we are continuously looking for means to more effectively identify malignant breast lesions using non-invasive imaging technologies, while reducing patient anxiety caused by higher than desired inconclusive results from existing imaging technology,” says Professor Sophia Zackrisson, MD, PhD, Professor of Diagnostic Radiology and Senior Consultant Radiologist at Skåne University Hospital. “My team and I are excited to explore the potential of DLV’s UOT technology, and to over time understand how it compares to other leading technologies and whether it can improve clinical outcome.”
The clinical study in breast imaging is planned, following necessary ethics and regulatory approvals, building on prior feasibility work already in place.
Exploring UOT for neonatal care
Beyond breast cancer, DLV and its clinical collaborators see potential for UOT in neonatal care, where safe, non-invasive functional monitoring at depth remains a major unmet need.
“Neonates, both premature and term, can suffer from some type of oxygen deficiency. Technologies that non-invasively capture functional status—such as regional oxygenation and perfusion—could meaningfully add diagnostic information. The prospect of obtaining such information at depth, without ionizing radiation, is compelling,” says Dr. Emilie Krite Svanberg, MD, PhD, Assistant Chief Consultant in Pediatric Anesthesia & Intensive Care at Skåne University “We are excited to work with DLV’s UOT technology to over time determine whether it can and should have a role in neonatal intensive care.”
Why UOT is different
DLV’s Ultrasound Optical Tomography is a hybrid imaging modality that combines:
- Clinical ultrasound – to provide spatial localization at depth
- Laser-based optical spectroscopy – to provide functional information
By combining these, UOT aims to deliver functional information at depth, including blood volume and oxygenation (SO₂), at greater depths than conventional methods, without ionizing radiation or contrast agents.
Light is directed into tissue and scatters deeply. A focused ultrasound field “tags” photons in a small volume. By selectively detecting these tagged photons, UOT can reconstruct the tissue’s optical properties at millimeter resolution several centimeters inside the body.
DLV’s platform is being engineered to:
- Be as straightforward to operate as ultrasound,
- While providing advanced functional insights that often require large, expensive and invasive or radiating systems like CT or MRI,
- Thereby bridging the gap between ease-of-use and high-value physiology.
In breast imaging, this could translate into:
- Improved distinction between benign and malignant lesions,
- Reduced number of inconclusive findings and follow-up procedures often including invasive tissue biopsies,
- Functional information that complements mammography, ultrasound and MRI, without radiation or invasive procedures.
“Our ambition is to unite the best of optics, ultrasound and quantum technology in a clinically usable system,” says Anders Sjögren, CEO of Deep Light Vision AB. “Advice and independent validation by leading clinical physicians, such as Professor Sophia Zackrisson and Dr. Emilie Krite Svanberg, is a critical step as we accelerate development of our constraint-breaking UOT technology. This first clinical breast study is an important step to demonstrate safety, feasibility and, over time, clinical value.
About Deep Light Vision AB
Deep Light Vision AB is a Swedish medtech company developing a quantum-enabled Ultrasound Optical Tomography platform for non-invasive functional imaging deep inside the body. The technology builds on more than a decade of research at Lund University’s Department of Physics, including quantum-activated optical filters based on rare-earth-doped crystals designed to dramatically improve signal-to-noise in UOT detection.
DLV’s first clinical focus is breast cancer imaging, with additional exploratory work in neonatal functional monitoring and other high-value clinical use cases where non-invasive functional information at depth could impact care.
About Professor Sophia Zackrisson
MD, PhD; Professor of Diagnostic Radiology and Chief Physician at Skåne University Hospital. Named Cancer Researcher of the Year 2020 (Sweden). Chair, Swedish Society of Breast Radiology; Executive Board Member, European Society of Breast Imaging, Deputy Director of Precision Medicine Centre South and the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Cancer and Equity in Women at Lund University and Region Skåne.
About Dr. Emilie Krite Svanberg
MD, PhD; Assistant Chief Consultant in Pediatric Anesthesia & Intensive Care at Skåne University Hospital; Scientific Member of the regional committee of the Swedish Ethical Review Authority.