DOBI Medical names new engineering VP

Dr. Lim Cheung has joined DOBI Medical Systems to advance the company's Dynamic Optical Breast Imaging system after spending six years at Trex Medical, where he developed that company's digital mammography unit.

Cheung took over last month as the New Jersey-based company's vice president of engineering. Before working for Trex Medical, he was head of the optical physics department at Grumann Aerospace.

While at Trex, Cheung was vice president of research and development. Trex's digital mammography system was in the running to be the first of its kind to go to market in the U.S., but the FDA rejected Trex's 510(k) and instead cleared GE Medical's premarket approval application (SCAN 2/16/00). Trex officials said this spring that the company is going through the PMA process for its full-field digital mammography unit (SCAN 4/26/00).

Cheung said digital mammography and DOBI's optical breast imaging system have some things in common.

"It is very closely related because in digital mammography we use x-ray optics to image," he said. "The technique I am working on now is intended (for) diagnostic purposes to be able to discriminate between benign and malignant lesions."

The DOBI system will be used initially as an adjunct to traditional mammography. It operates by detecting the effects of increased vascularization (angiogenesis) associated with the growth of malignant lesions (SCAN 5/24/00). Cheung said DOBI will submit a PMA for the system sometime next year.