In Perth, a medical technology company once known as OncoRes Medical has taken the name Ziva Surgical, marking a new chapter in its effort to help surgeons see what they have until now only been able to feel. The change in name follows more than a decade of work, rooted in Australian research, on a problem that touches many women who undergo breast-conserving surgery: roughly one in five must return to the operating table because cancer was left behind. The company's investigational ELORA System is not yet available to patients, and its promise will rest on data from an Australian clinical tri
OncoRes Medical Rebrands as Ziva Surgical as Breast Cancer Imaging Tool Nears Commercialization
Roughly one in five women undergoing breast-conserving surgery must face a second operation to remove residual cancer.
Giving surgeons a way to see what they could previously only feel
Mark
Why does a name change matter enough to be news?
Mimi
On its own it may not. What it marks is a company saying it is moving from a lab project toward something surgeons might use, with the ELORA System as the product.
Mark
And the problem it targets is concrete.
Mimi
Yes. About one in five women having breast-conserving surgery face a second operation for residual cancer. That is the gap ELORA is meant to close.
Luke
Worth noting that the one-in-five figure comes from the company's own announcement, with no study cited in it.
Mark
How does the device work, in plain terms?
Mimi
It maps tissue stiffness and fine structure inside the surgical cavity, so the surgeon gets an objective picture of what touch alone would suggest.
Luke
But it is described as investigational. Nothing here shows it actually reduces second operations.
Mark
What about the FDA Breakthrough designation in 2020?
Mimi
It signals regulatory interest in a serious condition. The 44-plus patents and exclusive license show the intellectual property is in place.
Luke
Neither is proof of clinical benefit. The CEO says trial results are coming soon, but gives no numbers or date. Until then, the prostate claims are also just early feasibility, described as promising by the company.
Le Pouls
- Roughly one in five women who have breast-conserving surgery must face a second operation to remove cancer that was not caught the first time.
- Surgeons still rely on sight, touch, and specimen imaging, methods the company says can miss residual disease inside the operating room.
- Perth-based OncoRes Medical has become Ziva Surgical, betting its identity on the investigational ELORA System and its micro-elastography technology.
- ELORA aims to map tissue stiffness and microstructure in real time, and holds FDA Breakthrough Device Designation, but it is not yet commercially available.
- The company's next test is its Australian clinical trial, with results promised soon but no figures or dates yet released.
In Perth, a medical technology company once known as OncoRes Medical has taken the name Ziva Surgical, marking a new chapter in its effort to help surgeons see what they have until now only been able to feel. The change in name follows more than a decade of work, rooted in Australian research, on a problem that touches many women who undergo breast-conserving surgery: roughly one in five must return to the operating table because cancer was left behind. The company's investigational ELORA System is not yet available to patients, and its promise will rest on data from an Australian clinical trial that has not yet reported. For now, the rebrand stands as a statement of intent rather than proof.
On November 12, 2026, a Perth company known as OncoRes Medical announced that it would now trade as Ziva Surgical, under a new name and visual identity. The company now calls itself an Australian tissue intelligence firm, and the change comes as it moves its investigational ELORA System closer to market.
The work began with a small team in Perth asking a simple question with a hard answer: can a surgeon know, during an operation, whether cancerous tissue remains in the body? The science behind the answer, quantitative micro-elastography, grew out of more than a decade of research at the University of Western Australia and the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. The company says that work has now become a device, meant to let surgeons see what they have so far only been able to judge by feel.
The human stakes are concrete. About one in five women who undergo breast-conserving surgery face a second operation to remove residual cancer. Today's tools, including sight, touch, specimen imaging, and clinical judgment, can leave disease undetected in the moment. ELORA is designed to turn a surgeon's touch into objective, microscale maps of tissue inside the surgical cavity, to guide what comes out and what stays. It is meant to complement pathology, not replace it.
The device has earned FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and is backed by an exclusive commercial license and more than 44 granted patents. Chief executive Dr. Katharine Giles called the rebrand a milestone and said results from the Australian clinical trial are coming soon, though no timing or figures were given. Beyond breast surgery, the company points to early promising feasibility work in prostate cancer and other solid tumors.
For now, the announcement is a statement of purpose. Whether ELORA delivers on that purpose will depend on what the clinical trial shows.
On November 12, 2026, a Perth-based medical technology company that had been known as OncoRes Medical announced it would now trade as Ziva Surgical, with a new name and a new visual identity. The company describes itself as an Australian tissue intelligence firm, and the change arrives as it moves its investigational ELORA System toward commercialization.
The company's origin is a small team in Perth working on one problem in cancer surgery: how a surgeon can know, in real time, whether cancerous tissue is still in the body. The underlying science, quantitative micro-elastography, or QME, was developed over more than a decade of research and engineering. That work began at the University of Western Australia and the Harry Perkins Institute of Medical Research. The company says it has taken QME from a laboratory technique to a device, the ELORA System, with the aim of giving surgeons a way to see what they have until now only been able to feel.
The clinical problem is specific. According to the company, about one in five women who undergo breast-conserving surgery face a second operation to remove residual cancer. Surgeons currently rely on sight, touch, imaging of the removed specimen, and their own clinical judgment to decide whether more tissue should come out. Those methods, the company says, can leave residual cancer undetected at the time of the operation.
ELORA is designed to turn a surgeon's sense of touch into objective imaging at the microscale. It is intended to produce quantitative maps of tissue stiffness and microarchitecture inside the surgical cavity, to help surgeons decide what to remove and what to preserve. The company says the system is meant to complement pathology, not replace it.
Several markers of progress are cited. ELORA received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation in 2020. The company holds an exclusive commercial license and more than 44 granted patents in key global markets, across 10 patent families. It describes the device as investigational, and it is not yet commercially available.
Chief executive Dr. Katharine Giles framed the rebrand as a milestone. She said the company has spent more than a decade translating pioneering research into technology with the potential to change how surgeons make decisions in the operating room. She added that the company is approaching some of the most significant milestones in its clinical journey to date, and that results from its Australian clinical trial are coming soon. The announcement gave no figures or timing for those results.
Breast-conserving surgery is the starting point, but the company's stated ambitions are wider. It points to other solid tumor cancers, including prostate cancer, where it says early feasibility studies have shown promising results. Its stated mission is unchanged: to give surgeons greater clarity when and where it matters, so that more patients can move forward after a single operation.
What to watch is the Australian trial data. The announcement is a rebrand and a statement of intent, and the clinical results will show whether the device performs as designed.
Citations marquantes
We're now approaching some of the most significant milestones in our clinical journey to date, with exciting results from our Australian clinical trial coming soon.— Dr. Katharine Giles, CEO, Ziva Surgical
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