Australian medical technology company Ferronova has reported preliminary findings from the MAGMAP multicentre trial evaluating its nanoparticle-based lymph node mapping technology in patients with gastric and oesophageal cancer.
The 62-patient study is assessing the safety and feasibility of the platform for identifying lymph nodes that drain a primary tumour, commonly referred to as sentinel lymph nodes.
The findings were presented at the 22nd ISDE World Congress for Esophageal Diseases in Kyoto, Japan.
The trial is led by Royal Adelaide Hospital and includes participating centres such as Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Austin Hospital, Olivia Newton John Cancer Research Institute, Flinders Medical Centre, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute Clinical & Research Imaging Centre.
Lymph node assessment plays an important role in cancer staging and surgical planning because tumour spread to lymph nodes can influence treatment decisions and prognosis.
Ferronova’s approach uses nanoparticles to help surgeons identify relevant lymph nodes associated with the primary tumour.
The technology is being evaluated as a potential way to provide more targeted lymph node mapping during surgery and potentially improve the precision of cancer staging.
The MAGMAP programme is focused on gastric and oesophageal cancers, where determining lymphatic spread can be challenging because of complex anatomy and variability in drainage patterns.
The multicentre design is intended to provide data across different clinical settings and surgical teams.
Ferronova said the preliminary findings support continued evaluation of the platform’s safety and feasibility.
The technology represents part of a broader trend towards intraoperative guidance tools designed to give surgeons more information during procedures rather than relying solely on preoperative imaging.
Further study will be required to determine whether the approach can improve clinical outcomes, reduce unnecessary lymph node removal or provide more precise staging compared with current surgical practice.
