Matakina is a Wellington start up on a mission to enable earlier detection of breast cancer, by diagnosing more accurately and treating more effectively. Their approach is to use best practice digital imaging developed by world-class innovators to allow the breast cancer screening process to be tailored to fit each individual woman.
“We have a vision for helping the millions of women who are screened for breast cancer every year. Although the barriers to success are high (medical devices are highly regulated) we believe if we can overcome those barriers then millions of women will be better off for it,” says CEO Ralph Highnam.
In particular their focus is on breast tissue density which is emerging as a major risk factor for breast cancer. Existing methods for measuring density can be cumbersome and depend on the skill of the operator.
“Breast imagers have a number of imaging tools at their disposal to use when diagnosing, such as mammography, ultrasound and MRI. But how do you know which is the best technique to use? Wouldn't it be great if a number grading tissue density just popped up on your mammography workstation and from that you knew which imaging tool was optimal? That's the idea behind Volpara, a software application that Matakina has on the market in the US and was recently a finalist in the Wellington Gold Awards which celebrate inspiring Wellington businesses.
Highnam has been involved in the development of breast quantification software for years and received a Ph.D. in 1992 in the subject from the University of Oxford. He set up his company in Wellington due to the innovative and forward looking clinicians based here and the presence of large numbers of high quality software engineers with experience of handling images thanks to the film industry.