Promise of Optical Techniques to Detect Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer remains one of the greatest oncological challenges. Patients generally present with locally invasive and metastatic disease that is not amendable for surgery. The five-year survival is less than 5% with a median survival of just over 6 months despite new therapeutic strategies. There is currently no imaging technique to detect pancreatic cancer in its early stages. Early detection would allow for early treatment and possibly curing of pancreatic cancer before it becomes deathly.

A Northwestern University biomedical engineering professor has developed promising new optical technology that analyzes tissue in the duodenum, part of the small intestine beside the pancreas, in order to detect pancreatic cancer. Minimally invasive endoscopy is used to obtain cells for analysis. The very subtle changes in the duodenum are analyzed at the nanoscale level by a light scattering technique. In the study, the technique correctly diagnosed 95% of the 203 patients. The optical technology combines four-dimensional elastic light-scattering fingerprinting and low-coherence enhanced backscattering spectroscopy. The image sensor searches for the “fingerprint” of carcinogenesis in the nanoarchitecture of the cells. This technology demonstrates the ‘field effect,’ meaning that the genetic and environmental factors that result in a neoplastic lesion in an area of an organ should be detectable throughout the organ and neighboring tissue.

If similar results are found in more studies, this imaging technique could be applied not only to pancreatic cancer, but also to other forms such as breast and lung cancer. This optical technology could transform the early detection and survival rates of many forms of cancer.

Link to article: Optical Techniques Show Continued Promise in Detecting Pancreatic Cancer