Medical Physics Seminar – Monday, September 24, 2018
Cancer Viewing Glasses for Fluorescence Image-Guided Cancer Surgery
Samuel Achilefu, PhD (hosted by Dr. Kevin W. Eliceiri and Dr. Melissa Skala) Talk Sponsored by the Morgridge Institute for Research Multiscale Imaging Initiative
Director, Optical Radiology Laboratory Professor of Radiology, Biomedical Engineering, and Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics Michel M. Ter-Pogossian Endowed Chair in Radiology Vice Chair, Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO - USA
Surgeons still rely on vision and touch to distinguish cancerous from healthy tissue, often leading to incomplete tumor removal that necessitates repeat surgery or favors relapse. To address these issues, we have developed Cancer Viewing Glasses (CVGs) that can provide real-time intraoperative visualization of tumors and sentinel lymph nodes without disrupting the surgical workflow. The CVGs were designed to detect near-infrared fluorescence (NIRF) from molecular probes targeted to cancer cells. Preclinical and clinical studies demonstrate the feasibility of using this method to improve surgical outcomes.