System and method for differentiation of normal and malignant in vivo liver tissues
Patent Number: US7979107
Executive Summary:
General Description:
Surgical removal of liver cancer tumors is considered to be the most effective treatment for liver cancer. However, for approximately 70% of patients, surgery is not an option due to the size or location of the tumor or for other health-related reasons. In these cases, thermotherapies, such as radio frequency ablation and laser-induced thermotherapy, may be employed to kill tumors. Currently, one of the limitations of these procedures is incomplete ablation, which is largely due to a poor understanding of the tumor margins. Additionally, as the coagulation zones are not visible during thermotherapy, it is difficult to precisely determine the endpoint of treatment. To address this, patent US7979107B2 describes an optical spectroscopy-based imaging method for differentiating between malignant liver tissue and healthy liver tissue in vivo using NADPH levels. Fluorescent intensity peaks corresponding to NADPH levels are collected from different regions of tissue and compared to delineate healthy and diseased regions.
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Patent Status:
Inventor Bio: Anita Mahadevan-Jansen
https://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/bio/anita-mahadevan-jansen
Executive Summary:
- Invention Type: Diagnostic and Device
- Patent Status: Issued on 2011-07-12
- Patent Link: https://patents.google.com/patent/US7979107/
- Research Institute: Cleveland Clinic, Vanderbilt University
- Disease Focus: Malignant liver cancer
- Basis of Invention: Imaging technique for differentiating between malignant and normal liver tissue in vivo
- How it works: Healthy and diseased tissue do not reflect light in the same manner due to the differences in their blood absorption profiles and specifically their NADPH content. By measuring and comparing the fluorescent spectra across tissue, healthy and malignant regions can be identified
- Lead Challenge Inventor: Anita Mahadevan-Jansen
- Inventors: Wei-Chiang Lin, Steven A. Toms, Anita Mahadevan-Jansen, Ravi S. Chari
- Development Stage: Pre-clinical (in vivo data)
- Novelty:
- Uses NADPH levels to differentiate between healthy and disease tissue
- Clinical Applications:
- Potential diagnostic tool in medical imaging
- Potential diagnostic tool in medical imaging
General Description:
Surgical removal of liver cancer tumors is considered to be the most effective treatment for liver cancer. However, for approximately 70% of patients, surgery is not an option due to the size or location of the tumor or for other health-related reasons. In these cases, thermotherapies, such as radio frequency ablation and laser-induced thermotherapy, may be employed to kill tumors. Currently, one of the limitations of these procedures is incomplete ablation, which is largely due to a poor understanding of the tumor margins. Additionally, as the coagulation zones are not visible during thermotherapy, it is difficult to precisely determine the endpoint of treatment. To address this, patent US7979107B2 describes an optical spectroscopy-based imaging method for differentiating between malignant liver tissue and healthy liver tissue in vivo using NADPH levels. Fluorescent intensity peaks corresponding to NADPH levels are collected from different regions of tissue and compared to delineate healthy and diseased regions.
Strengths:
- Will improve accuracy/efficiency of radio frequency ablation treatment of tumors
- Could be applied to other cancers
Weaknesses:
- Other groups are also addressing this need using similar approaches
Patent Status:
- Priority date: 2002-07-05
- Filing date: 2009-08-06
- Publication date: 2011-07-12
- Grant date: 2011-07-12
Inventor Bio: Anita Mahadevan-Jansen
https://engineering.vanderbilt.edu/bio/anita-mahadevan-jansen
