Biopsy. It’s a word that can strike fear in the strongest among us. Performing a biopsy – the removal and examination of tissue or cells – is the current procedure for determining whether cells are cancerous.
Developing new uses for noninvasive technology to identify human cancer cells might seem like a stretch for an electrical engineer. But that’s exactly what Tim Lei has in mind. An assistant professor of electrical engineering, Lei was awarded a 2008-09 UC Denver faculty development grant for his proposal “Development of a Non-invasive Cancer Screening Apparatus.”
Lei’s approach describes developing a noninvasive cancer screening and diagnostic tool that can determine whether a tissue structure is cancerous without having to do a biopsy. His plan is to measure the vibrational spectra of tissue through a nonlinear optical technique called ‘coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy’ (CARS).
“With this method, spectral differences can be used to distinguish malignant tumors from benign tissues rapidly without tissue removal,” explains Lei. “This technique is not limited to detecting a particular type of cancer and can be applied to detect any surface cancer, such as oral carcinoma and melanoma in skin tissues.”
Another driving factor in Lei’s work is the importance of detecting cancers in the early stages when treatment can slow or even stop further development of cancer cells. Lei points to studies that have shown how the survival rate of patients increased dramatically if external interventions are applied before cancers are metastasized or spread throughout the patient’s body. Lei notes that patients often are not prompt in having suspicious lesions examined, especially small ones. He attributes that in part to the costs and discomfort typically associated with biopsies.
“There’s a strong need to develop new methods to identify tissue characteristics noninvasively and inexpensively,” explains Lei.
To address the matter, Lei plans to build a prototype apparatus to measure the vibrational spectra of healthy and malignant tissue samples. He believes the approach will produce evidence of discernable differences. This is possible because the chemical composition of benign and malignant tissues is significantly different. By identifying the spectral differences the nature of the tissue samples can be distinguished. “Ultimately,” Lei says, “the goal is to use this for screening surface cancers rapidly and without tissue extraction.”
Collaborators on this project are Arlen Meyers, MD, otolaryngogy and Nick Barry, MD, medicine.