Zilico has developed the next generation of cancer diagnostic device that will improve and extend cancer screening programmes by providing accurate and objective results in real-time. This removes subjectivity associated with visual colposcopy, a technique that has not materially changed in 100 years. 

The initial focus is in cervical cancer and oral cancer with future applications planned for anal and oesophageal cancers amongst others.

There are over 500,000 new cases of invasive cervical cancer each year worldwide, with many more pre-cancerous diagnoses. It is the second most common cancer in women under 35, and kills around 300,000 patients each year.

Using electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), the ZedScan device can differentiate between normal, pre-cancerous and cancerous cells in the cervix, providing a real-time diagnosis that avoids the need for a biopsy.