Researchers at the University of Texas in Austin are pilot testing their recently developed imaging pen that uses three different spectroscopic mechanisms to view a skin lesion. The device has the potential to identify suspected skin cancer tumors earlier and cut the costs of unnecessary biopsies.
The device, which is the size of a pen and is hooked up to a portable imaging computer, combines Raman spectroscopy, diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, and laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy that help detect increased oxygen consumption of a suspected lesion. Cancerous tissue displays different optical properties than healthy tissue, the researchers said in their study published in the Review of Scientific Instruments. The test only take about 5 seconds to complete.
At the moment, the only way to diagnose skin cancer is to perform a biopsy where a suspect lesion is removed by a doctor and then examined under a microscope. In that process, for every one positive test of skin cancer about 25 biopsies are negative, costing the U.S. health care system about $6 billion, the researchers estimated.
James Tunnell, a biomedical engineering researcher at the University of Texas, said the new probe could eventually reduce the high number and costs of negative biopsies due to the nature of the 3-in-1 spectroscopy of the device.
"Skin is a natural organ to apply imaging and spectroscopy devices to because of its easy access," Tunnell said. "This probe that is able to combine all three spectral modalities is the next critical step to translating spectroscopic technology to the clinic."
Other devices have been in the research stage for the past decade, he said, but several are now entering into clinical development. Earlier this year, Mela Sciences ($MELA) received U.S. premarketing approval for MelaFind, a novel, automatic algorithm-based optical skin cancer detection device.
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