Sentio LLC in Southfield has used technology found in a smartphone to create a nerve-mapping tool that allows surgeons to avoid contact with nerves during minimally invasive procedures.
“It’s like a stud finder for nerves,” said Chris Wybo, a co-founder and president of Sentio. “You don’t want to cause pain and disruption to normal, healthy tissue when performing surgery. By using this device, there is less scarring, less blood loss, less infection and a quicker recovery.”
Wybo, who has a background in mechanical and biomedical engineering, helped design the sensor with the company’s CEO, Stephen Bartol, an orthopedic spine surgeon at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.
Sentio’s system allows surgeons to detect nerves and avoid them during spinal surgeries. Unlike other electromyography, or EMG, systems, which detect nerves through electrical signals, Sentio’s mechanomyograpghy, or MMG, system detects the triggering of nerves through muscle movements using accelerometers — like those used in your smartphone.
The accelerometers are placed on the skin — unlike EMGs, which require needles — creating a safer environment for the patient and operating room staff, Wybo said.
The technology for the Sentio MMG first came to light in the 1990s but was too bulky and expensive for practical use in the medical world. The technology was refined in 2007 after being tried out at Wayne State University.
After a small incision is made during surgery, the smart sensor is placed in the skin and establishes a safe path for surgeons so they can avoid “the minefield of nerves” that surrounds the spine. The Sentio MMG provides literal stop-and-go signals on a computer while the surgery is being performed.
“Hospitals are more and more interested in making procedures less invasive,” Wybo said. “Our system eliminates the evasiveness of detecting nerves. The sensors we’ve developed are much safer.”
Since 2007, Sentio has raised $8.5 million to commercialize the product for hospitals in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia, Europe and soon the Middle East.
Locally, Henry Ford Health System is the largest user of the system. Currently, 35 percent of Sentio’s revenue comes from international health systems, Wybo said.
The patents granted to Sentio under Innovative Surgical Solutions LLC in 2013 were for more advanced MMG sensors, the software system and methodology for the probe, and sensor technology.
Sentio plans to expand the MMG technology for use in ear, nose and throat surgeries and pain management surgeries, Wybo said. It also has patents pending for MMG software that will communicate with surgical robots.
The company continues laboratory and animal testing at Wayne State.
