Grant: Collaborative Health Research Projects

According to the Canadian Cancer Society, the 5-year survival rate for oral cancer is only63%. Each year 4,600 new cases in Canada and 300,000 cases worldwide are identified andon average, half of the patients die within 5 years of diagnosis. The recurrence rate of oralcancer after surgery is high at 20%. Therefore, there is a critical need for new technology thatcan improve the early detection and treatment of oral cancer. In this project, a new point-ofcarecancer imaging device based on multiphoton imaging will be developed to provide highresolutionimaging of oral mucosa lesions in vivo and in real-time. Multiphoton imaging canprovide visualization of important biomarkers for cancer detection: the morphological changesof tumor cells and nuclei, and the density and ordering of the underlying collagen fibers whichfacilitates the progression and invasion of tumor cells. It has been demonstrated to be verysuccessful in pre-clinical cancer studies on animal models. Translating multiphoton imaginginto clinical applications is just beginning. Challenges include handling femtosecond plusesand limited signal to noise ratio. We will address those challenges and design a portablemultiphoton system with a handheld probe for performing in vivo imaging of the oral mucosa.In vivo imaging on patients will be carried out to evaluate the device for guided biopsy andtumor margin detection. The new technology can improve cancer management by real-timeassessment of tumor noninvasively and guiding decisions on when and where to takebiopsies for early cancer detection.