# A Novel Radiometry‐Guided Ablation Catheter to Reliably Treat Barrett's Esophagus

> **NIH NIH R43** · SYMPLE SURGICAL, INC. · 2021 · $399,834

## Abstract

ABSTRACT
In the fight to eradicate esophageal cancer, Symple Surgical aims to develop a low-cost versatile ablation system
for Barrett's esophagus (BE). BE is a serious complication of gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) which
affects ~40% of the US population. In more than 1.6% of people, chronic exposure to acid reflux induces BE, an
esophageal epithelium abnormality that can develop into lethal esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). Associated
with obesity, as GERD and BE, EAC is increasing in incidence more rapidly than any cancer in recent years.
Current endoscopic monitoring can detect precancerous BE, which is treated usually with radiofrequency
ablation (RFA), available in major hospitals. However, RFA requires multiple yearly procedures with a variety of
expensive target-specific applicators. More importantly, RFA treatments ablate mostly the surface epithelium,
often leaving potentially precancerous cells intact deeper in the mucosal layer. Considering the rise of deadly
esophageal cancer, overcoming current overall cost and procedural challenges is thus an urgent clinical need.
We thus propose to integrate reliable and versatile heating mechanism with real-time accurate thermal feedback
into a novel low-cost ablation device. Our DirectAblate GRIZZLY™ Microwave Ablation Catheter technology
uses a dual–purpose microwave antenna with unique advantages: i) dependable ablation zone targeting the
complete mucosa; ii) real-time dosimetry and guidance by passively collecting thermal radiation from multiple
sensing volumes. The immediate goal is to implement radiometric sensing in our BE microwave ablation catheter
and test the system in realistic phantoms, in ex-vivo tissues and in a swine in-vivo model. The long-term objective
is to significantly reduce EAC incidence by improving BE ablation reliability and accuracy with precise abnormal
cell targeting and real-time thermal dosimetry. The rationale for our approach is that low-cost cutting-edge mobile
communication technologies can be used for affordable microwave ablation systems with radiometric feedback.
Our underlying hypothesis is that by combining innovative microwave heating and thermal sensing technologies
into a single disposable catheter, we can optimally and affordably ablate BE precancerous lesions. To prove our
hypothesis, we propose these specific aims: 1) Integrate multiband radiometric sensing into a versatile ablation
catheter for continuous accurate control during BE ablation; 2) Test the ability to accurately feedback microwave
heating in realistic phantoms, ex-vivo pig esophageal tissue and in-vivo swine. Specific milestones to prove
success are: 1) Optimized integration of radiometric hardware in an endoscopic microwave ablation catheter; 2)
Algorithm to reconstruct temperature at multiple depths from esophageal surface; 3) Validation of reliable heating
in realistic BE phantom models for several clinical scenarios; 4) Initial assessment of ablation quality in ex-vivo
and i...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10385615
- **Project number:** 1R43CA257701-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** SYMPLE SURGICAL, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Sohail Desai
- **Activity code:** R43 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $399,834
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-09-22 → 2023-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10385615

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10385615, A Novel Radiometry‐Guided Ablation Catheter to Reliably Treat Barrett's Esophagus (1R43CA257701-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-27 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10385615. Licensed CC0.

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