Abstract

Skin cancers are among the highest incidence cancers, with 1.2 million new cases detected each year in the United States. To detect these new cases, 5.5 million biopsies are performed. Of these 5.5 million biopsies, approximately 4.3 million cases turn out to be normal. These 4.3 million biopsies, which may potentially be avoided, costs US healthcare more than $2 billion every year. Similarly, oral cancers are among the highest incidence cancers worldwide, with an estimated 274,000 new cases detected. Biopsies are invasive, painful, destroy the site under study and leaves scarring. Often, the best areas to biopsy are difficult to ascertain, and a small number of biopsies within a large suspicious lesion results in under-sampling and uncertain diagnoses. The tissue processing to prepare histology introduces artifacts. Precise micro-surgical excision of large cancers often requires a large number of biopsies, performed before surgery, to determine the hidden subsurface cancer-to-normal tissue margins. Confocal microscopy demonstrates the potential to solve these problems. Confocal imaging may enable noninvasive screening and diagnosis, pre-surgical determination of cancer margins and intra-surgical guidance directly on the patient and in real-time, with minimal need for biopsy, minimal pain and minimal expense. In close collaboration with Dr. Milind Rajadhyaksha, Ph.D., in the Dermatology Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Professor Charles DiMarzio, Ph.D. (Northeastern), we are designing a prototype articulated toothbrush-shaped confocal endoscope for imaging skin and oral tissues in vivo.

Notes

Poster presented at the 2007 Validating TestBED and Research on Real World Problems for the I-PLUS Development Conference.

Keywords

cancer, Endoscope

Subject Categories

Cancer--Diagnosis, Biopsy

Disciplines

Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment

Publisher

Bernard M. Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (Gordon-CenSSIS)

Publication Date

2007

Rights Holder

Bernard M. Gordon Center for Subsurface Sensing and Imaging Systems (Gordon-CenSSIS)



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