Early Diagnosis of Mucosal Cancer by Confocal Scanning

Tumors originating in the mucosa account for more than half of all cancer deaths in the US;therefore, early detection is important. We will apply a novel technique to real-time diagnosis andassessment of precancerous growth and early cancer of the mucosa, by measuring its fluorescenceindependently of the much stronger submucosal fluorescence. Fluorescence and scatteringmeasurements of the lining of body cavities show promise for early detection of mucosal cancer.Unfortunately, the mucosal signature is obscured thicknesses of 25micro to 150micro, a new confocalarrangement, can substantially reduce submucosal interference. Thus, it has the potential for reliable androbust early diagnosis, while the lesions are still wholly mucosal and invisible to the unaided eye. Aftertesting in phantoms, we will measure fluorescence and backscattered excitation light in a well-characteri-zed rat model of bladder cancer and correlate the results against histopathology. This will test VPM asthe basis of a clinically useful diagnostic tool to be built and tested in Phase 2. We will also compareits performance to existing fluorescence techniques.