Grant: Strategic Projects - Group

PROBLEM: Current biopsy techniques for cancer utilize external guidance, which only provides approximate positioning information for the placement of biopsy needles without sufficient resolution to verify the accuracy of obtaining a core biopsy that contains cancerous tissue. Key deficiencies in the current externally guided biopsy techniques include (i) poor spatial resolution, 1-2 mm; (ii) limited verification of needle placement in defined region of interest; and (iii) lack of in vivo sub-surface blood vessel or relevant anatomical layer detection, which are important landmarks to indentify the presence of suspicious lesions. These deficiencies result in high false negative rates, which in turn require patients to undergo multiple core biopsies with increased morbidity. POTENTIAL SOLUTION: Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a high resolution (1-10 um) imaging modality that has the potential for significant clinical impact in image-guided biopsy. The objective of this research will focus on developing a multimodality guided biopsy platform, in which combined MRI and ultrasound guidance of an interstitial (IS) needle OCT probe will be used to determine the presence of suspicious lesions before taking core biopsies. We plan to increase the biopsy interrogation volume by >600,000 times using the novel MRI/US guided IS-DOCT system. We will target the largest populations in need of cancer screening biopsies, specifically the patients awaiting diagnosis of breast/prostate cancers. SIGNIFICANCE: Combined, breast and prostate cancer affects a significant portion of our population (~29%) with devastating consequences, and the early detection for both of these medical conditions may benefit from the near histological resolution and vascular imaging provided by OCT to target core biopsy procedures. This research will provide clinicians with a state-of-the-art interstitial OCT imaging device and provide images never seen before in the biopsy room to better define the lesions' microanatomy. Knowledge gained from the current research program will lay the foundation for developing new OCT technologies to improve the overall health care of patients suffering from other cancerous and/or non-cancerous conditions.