Researchers develop optical biopsy system to detect liver cancer

Researchers have developed an optical biopsy system that can differentiate between cancerous and healthy liver tissue

"The instrument has been designed to be compatible with needles currently used for liver biopsies," said Evgenii Zherebtsov, a member of the research team at Orel State University in Russia

In Biomedical Optics Letters, published by the Optical Publishing Group, the researchers report that an optical biopsy system can reliably distinguish cancer cells from healthy cells in a mouse model

"An optical biopsy method like the one we developed makes it possible to differentiate between healthy and tumor tissue with high accuracy," said Elena V.

Respond to clinical needs

The researchers designed the new device after the surgeons they worked with noticed how difficult it was to get a needle biopsy at the exact location

The new optical biopsy system combines diffuse reflectance spectroscopy and fluorescence lifetime measurements to assess markers associated with cellular metabolism, which differ between healthy and cancerous cells

Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy reveals the properties of tissues based on how they reflect light

"While our team and others have previously used fluorescence intensity to assess tissue, studies in other parts of the body have shown that fluorescence lifetime is less dependent on experimental conditions," Potapova said

To use the new instrument for guiding future clinical biopsies, the researchers chose compact, modern components for the device

take the probe to the clinic

To assess the sensitivity of the assembled system, the researchers first measured solutions of molecules known to play key roles in metabolism

"It was important for us to have a comprehensive analysis of the cancer changes observed in mouse models and clinical settings," Zherebtsov said

The researchers plan to continue measuring fluorescence lifetime parameters at different stages in patients with different tumor types to generate real-time diagnostic classifiers

Original search:

Fluorescence Lifetime Needle Optical Biopsy Discriminates Hepatocellular Carcinoma