Seno Medical Instruments, Inc. Names Dr. Thomas Stavros Medical Director
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – November 19, 2013 – Seno Medical Instruments, Inc., the company pioneering opto-acoustic imaging as a tool to improve the diagnosis of cancer, today announced that Thomas Stavros, MD, FACR, FSRU, FRANZCR, one of the world’s leading experts in breast radiology, has been named the company’s Medical Director.
“I am excited to join the Seno management team and help the company in its quest to develop and commercialize opto-acoustic imaging, which I believe could become a new standard in cancer diagnosis,” said Dr. Stavros. “I’ve spent my career working to develop safe and effective breast imaging solutions, and I believe opto-acoustic technology has the potential to significantly improve the breast cancer diagnostic and treatment path. The sad reality is that 80% of biopsies ultimately return negative results due to limitations of current imaging modalities. The Imagio system produces some of the most exciting images depicting angiogenesis and oxygen levels within and around suspicious masses that I’ve seen in my career and could enable us to more precisely diagnose or rule out breast cancer.”
The ImagioTM breast imaging system uses a combination of traditional breast ultrasound co-registered with opto-acoustic technology, and provides physicians real time anatomical images of the breast with a functional “blood map” of a potentially suspicious mass.
Dr. Stavros is a practicing women’s imaging radiologist with more than 30 years of breast imaging experience, and is currently a women’s imaging radiologist at Sutter Medical Group, Sacramento, California. Dr. Stavros has been involved in mammography since 1976 and has been actively involved in the development of high-frequency hand-held breast ultrasound since 1981. He is a reviewer for several medical journals and has written or co-authored numerous articles. Dr. Stavros has also written the textbook Breast Ultrasound, the definitive work on this subject in the United States.
Dr. Stavros lectures about ultrasound, particularly about breast ultrasound, at numerous clinical conferences worldwide and has presented more than 1,800 invited lectures and abstracts.
He is a fellow of the American College of Radiology, a fellow of the Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound, and an honorary fellow of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiology, where he was the Traveling Baker Professor in 1999. He received his medical degree from the University of Colorado School of Medicine in Denver and bachelor’s degree from St. Olaf College in Minnesota.
He has served as a clinical advisor for several ultrasound, breast imaging, and minimally invasive biopsy device companies including General Electric, Phillips and Ethicon Endo-Surgery.
“Dr. Stavros’ unprecedented experience in breast imaging using ultrasound makes him an ideal Medical Director for our company. We are proud to have him join our team,” said Janet Campbell, CEO, Seno Medical Instruments. “Tom is one of the leading minds in the field driving our clinical development path us and helping us in our goal to improve the diagnosis of breast cancer for women around the globe. He brings invaluable clinical experience that will help facilitate development of Imagio and help us bring this important technology to commercialization.”
Given the positive outcomes from the Feasibility Study, Seno’s management believes that Imagio has the potential to be an important factor in the diagnostic standard of care. The objective is to provide a better tool for the user and a more accurate, efficient, safer and cost effective diagnostic care path.