Researchers at the University of Texas have developed a new probe that combines three specific methods into a device that USES light to detect skin tissue and cancer. The new three-in-one probe is currently in advanced clinical trials and is being published in the international journal Review of Scientific Instruments, the researchers said.
All types of skin cancer are common in North America, and melanoma, the deadliest skin cancer, is the leading cause of cancer death, killing more than 100 million people a year in the United States. Currently, the most effective way to diagnose skin cancer is to conduct a biopsy, in which doctors remove potential skin lesions from the patient's body, stain them and examine them under a microscope.
Researcher James Tunnell believes that the three-in-one probe can effectively reduce the number of biopsies and the cost of negative tissue examination, providing clear images of damaged tissue most likely to become cancerous for researchers to analyze. Article, the researchers will three common spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, diffuse reflection spectral spectrum analysis and collection in the probe laser induced fluorescence spectroscopy technology, skin damage to make use of this new type of probe can clearly molecules and present a complete lesion skin images, this new type of probe is expected to become cancer and eliminate the negative biopsy samples of screening tools.
As the skin becomes cancerous, the nucleus gets bigger, the top layer of the skin starts to harden, and then the skin cells increase their consumption of oxygen and become divided. This change can change the way light and skin tissue interact. To detect these changes, researchers need a variety of spectroscopic techniques, such as diffusion spectroscopy, which is sensitive to protein absorption, and Raman spectroscopy, which is sensitive to the vibrational patterns of chemical bonds.
While previous studies have tried to combine these spectroscopy techniques to help detect skin cancer, the researchers have combined three spectroscopy techniques to develop a new three-in-one probe that is the size of a pen and is less expensive, time - and cost-efficient. Researchers Tunnell said, the skin is a kind of natural organs of equipment available for imaging and spectroscopy analysis, some of the equipment used for at least 10 years, and this article research in the development of new type of probe can be combined with three kinds of spectroscopy techniques to analyze the suspicious cancerous skin tissue, the next step the researchers hope to apply it to clinical trials, for patients with skin cancer.