The probe is being made available to women in Houston. The colposcopy is used when the Pap smear indicates the possibility of cervical cancer, the second most common cancer in women worldwide. It reduces the false positive rate by 20 percent. The laser probe uses fluorescence and reflectance spectroscopy and measures the wavelengths of light bounced off different surfaces. In simple terms, the laser probe works by shining light on the cervix and reporting what it sees.
Cancer cells reflect light differently from the way healthy cells reflect light.
The computer translates the light's reflection into a report indicating whether the patient is healthy or has a problem. Resources are wasted on the evaluation and treatment of lesions not likely to progress to cancer. Both the screening and detection of cervical cancer could be vastly improved by technologies which improve, automate and decrease the cost of screening and detection. We are very excited about the project. We should all be very proud of Dr. Richards-Kortum and her students.