Cambridge Devices, founded in 2004  addresses the complexity in tissue identification in procedures such as breast biopsies and skin-cancer excisions. 

The company’s Real-time Pathology Manager product is a unique web-service that captures, processes and analyzes information to provide physicians with pathology information in real-time. Pathology is a necessary component of most surgical procedures, including biopsies, simple excisions, and open surgeries.

Prior to Cambridge Devices, it was not easy for doctors to identify different tissue types. The burden was on the doctor to attempt to identify these tissues visually, or wait for a diagnosis by a pathologist provided after a delay. There are a wide range of procedures that benefit from real-time pathologic information, including biopsy procedures (to guide removal of tissue), simple excisional surgeries (to delineate margins of cancer), and open surgeries (to test for any remaining cancerous tissue in the surgical field).  The company’s initial products address the biopsy market and the dermatologic excisional surgery market.