High resolution imaging &amp; ablation for smoke induced cancer
Creators: name: University Of California Office Of The President
Publisher: name: University of California Office of the President
publisherIdentifier: https://ror.org/00dmfq477
publisherIdentifierScheme: ROR
Year: 2024

description: Smoking and exposure to tobacco smoke has been shown to cause or increase the numbers of cases of several types of cancer. The risk of lung and airway cancer, cancer of the mouth, cancer of the voice box, esophagus (food pipe), bladder, and colon cancer are all linked to the use of tobacco products. Smoking causes nine in ten cases of lung cancer. Lung cancer has one of the lowest survival rates of all cancers, and is the most common cause of cancer death in the United States. All forms of smoking related cancers combined cause an estimated 450,000 deaths a year in the U.S. One of the most important ways to reduce the rate of death from smoking related cancers is to recognize the earliest changes that occur to body tissues and organs so that these areas can be treated by removal from the body. Advances in techniques that can provide real time images of airway and lung tumors on and below the surface without the need for surgical removal of the suspicious area to confirm a diagnosis could potentially provide a major advance in the way very early lung cancer is diagnosed and treated. In addition, it would be extremely valuable if suspicious areas identified and confirmed to be cancerous or pre-cancerous by advanced imaging systems could be immediately removed by the use of very fast and effective laser surgery. For several years, our laboratory has been developing and testing new optical imaging technologies for their use in detecting lung cancer. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a new technique for imaging tissues using infrared light. Images can be obtained of tumors and other structures both on and for a small distance below the surface of living lung and airway tissue without the need to invade the tissue. We have developed OCT systems and the computer systems to store and display the information they provide in 3 dimensions extremely fast, so we can see OCT images immediately, and work will be done during this project to miniaturize and improve these systems for use in patients. We have also been studying the ability of special surgical lasers to precisely and very efficiently remove specific amounts of tissue. The principle goal of this proposal is to combine the very high speed 3-D imaging techniques for OCT we are developing with the surgical laser into a system that will 1) provide very high definition, high speed, 3 dimensional imaging of lung, airway and other body tissues, 2) be very durable and able to help deliver the laser energy very precisely and accurately, 3) allow physicians to watch the progress of cancer tissue removal as it progresses, and 4) be small enough and either flexible or rigid to allow access to many different parts of the body with minimal or no invasive surgical techniques. This work will have the potential to significantly improve treatments and results for patients with smoking induced airway malignancy. Development of the OCT-guided surgical laser should then be applicable in the future to detect and treat tobacco related cancers and pre-malignant lesions developing in many other tobacco-exposed regions including the GI, and lower urinary tracts.