Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects

Lung cancer is the most common cause of cancer death world-wide. More than 1.3 million people die annuallyand the 5-year survival rates have improved only marginally in the last three decades. We propose to combineautofluorescence imaging and optical coherence tomography (OCT) to manage this disease through earlierdetection and treatment.Autofluorescence imaging is a technique that uses blue light illumination in an endoscope to excite naturaltissue fluorescence (a healthy green glow) in the lung. This technique has dramatically improved the earlydetection of lung cancer by identifying high-risk areas where biopsies should be collected. Although thismethod improves detection, a biopsy is still required to verify the presence or absence of a precancer. Opticalcoherence tomography (OCT) is a new imaging technique that can be used to study these high-risk tissue sitesat high resolution without removing tissue (no biopsy required). It is the optical equivalent of ultrasound. Ituses light waves instead of sound waves to build a high-resolution map of structures below the tissue surface.Our team was the first to use OCT in conjunction with autofluorescence bronchoscopy. We found that OCTdoes have promise for the differentiation of early lesions and for determining if the lesion has invaded. Overthe last 10 years, we have made 1000's of quantitative measurements on surgical specimens (biopsies) removedfrom the lung. We believe that we can use these measurements to improve current OCT instruments to helpidentify precancerous lesions in the lung.