MOLLI 2 Soft Tissue Localization System | 2022-2023

Designer: Ananth Ravi and John Dillon, Mark Semple, Michael Giannini, MOLLI Surgical Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Manufacturer: MOLLI Surgical Inc., Toronto, Ontario, Canada

MOLLI Surgical started with one patient’s voice — a patient who asked if there was a way to make her breast cancer journey better. Her voice led to the creation of our flagship wire and radiation-free technology — MOLLI 2®. Our innovation is intended to replace outdated procedures to mark lesions for surgical removal with greater precision, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness.

MOLLI 2 is an evolution in MOLLI Surgical’s award-winning platform technology that allows surgeons to pinpoint cancerous tissue for faster, more accurate, and potentially improved cosmesis while significantly improving the patient experience.

We are obsessed with every detail of our design process to ensure surgeons and radiologists have the best possible tools in their hands to support an improved patient experience.

For the three components of MOLLI 2, every design detail was taken into account to determine how it would optimize ease of use for the physicians with the ultimate goal of improving patient outcomes.

The MOLLI Marker® is 3.2 mm which is about the size of a sesame seed. It is the smallest on the market precisely marking where lesions are located before breast cancer surgery. The choice of measuring 3.2 mm is not by accident. Balancing the tiny size of the marker with the ability to detect depth in breasts of all sizes was an important consideration. Choosing to use a neodymium magnet coated in gold to ensure robustness and 100% reliability in detection was also key. The MOLLI 2 Wand® detects the MOLLI Marker during surgery. The MOLLI Wand was purposely designed for small hands understanding that ease of use is so important during surgery. The wand has a 10-degree curve and 10-degree taper to navigate the tightest surgical cavities to support precision surgery and reduction in the removal of healthy tissue surrounding the breast lesion.

The MOLLI Tablet® then displays feedback via visual, auditory, distance, and direction between the tip of the MOLLI 2 Wand and the MOLLI Marker in millimeters. Providing various modes of feedback allows surgeons to choose the optimal way to perform surgery. The user interface feedback was scrutinized to provide the exact right amount of information to the surgeon, at the right time, when they need it most. We have removed unnecessary details that distract the surgeon and went a step further for the auditory feedback. Since most ORs have sirens and shrill sounds, we wanted to reduce the cognitive load on the surgeon by making the sound of the tablet a pleasant musical scale designed by a concert pianist. The tablet is also mountable on an IV pole to be at eye level so that the surgeon does not need to hunch over and experience increased physical stress during surgery.

MOLLI® has been recognized by TIME as one of 2022’s “Best Inventions” in the Medical Care category and named to Fast Company’s list of the “Next Big Things in Tech,” recognizing technology breakthroughs across industries that promise to transform the future. We are proud to build on our strong foundations, and further evolve the user experience to make it a game-changing experience, and a solution that patients and physicians prefer.