Bladder cancer surgery follows well-established clinical guidelines. Yet recurrence remains frequent. Even after tumour removal, microscopic residual disease, often smaller than one millimetre, can remain undetected. These invisible tumour traces are the major reason why patients experience relapse.
PHIRE aims to address this precise gap between what surgeons can see and what may still remain. The project is built around a simple but powerful question:
How can we detect tumour areas that current surgical tools cannot visualise?
Answering this challenge, PHIRE combines high-resolution photoacoustic imaging with engineered gold nanorods designed to bind selectively to bladder cancer markers. When illuminated, these nanostructures convert light into ultrasound signals, allowing extremely small tumour regions to become visible. By merging molecular targeting with advanced imaging, the approach enhances contrast precisely where it is most needed.
The project, coordinated by Dr Massimo Alfano at Ospedale San Raffaele, brings together clinicians, chemists, imaging specialists, engineers and innovation experts. From the beginning, the work has been rooted in translational medicine: starting from a clearly defined clinical need and developing technological solutions around it.
Following successful validation in preclinical models, the PHIRE is moving towards clinical translation. By working in the interface between laboratory innovation and patient care, PHIRE aims to reduce tumour relapse and ultimately improve quality of life for patients with bladder cancer.
