Bioengineers at Rice University in Houston have developed a microendoscope that nearly doubles the sensitivity of esophageal cancer screenings and could eventually eliminate the need for biopsies.
Clinical studies were conducted on 147 patients in both the U.S. and China who underwent examination for potentially malignant squamous cell tumors using both the microendoscope and a traditional endoscopic exam. Following biopsies of suspect lesions in all 147 patients, results showed that the microendoscopic exam would have revealed 90 percent of those biopsies to be unnecessary.
"For patients, biopsies are stressful and sometimes painful," lead researcher Rebecca Richards-Kortum, Ph. D. and professor of electrical and computer engineering and director of Rice 360°: Institute for Global Health Technologies, said in a statement. "In addition, in low-resource settings, pathology costs frequently exceed endoscopy costs. So the microendoscope could both improve patient outcomes and provide a significant cost-saving advantage if used in conjunction with a traditional endoscope."
Rice's microendoscope offers a level of real-time precision that can help rule out malignancy in cases that would traditionally require a biopsy to make such a determination. Clinical trials are underway to test the device for use in detection of cervical, bladder, oral, colon and other cancers.
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