New Collaboration Targets Skin Cancer with Hybrid Imaging Probe

October 4, 2010 — A new collaboration between researchers at King’s Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Center and a British company is targeting skin cancer with a new type of imaging probe. The research project has received 75 percent funding through a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Invention for Innovation grant awarded to the partners, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, King’s College London and Michelson Diagnostics Ltd.

The aim of the project is to develop and test a hybrid imaging probe that combines the advantages of Michelson Diagnostics’ multi-beam optical coherence tomography (OCT) probe with a visual camera. The OCT and visual images from the hybrid probe will be combined to provide enhanced diagnostic information to clinicians.

Project leader Andrew Coleman, M.D., consultant medical physicist at Guy’s and St Thomas’, explains, “When interpreting OCT images of sub-surface tissue, it really helps if you know exactly where on the lesion you are scanning, and the hybrid probe will enable this.”

The annual incidence of skin cancer in the United Kingdom is estimated to be around 100,000 cases per year, representing 20 percent of all cancers. Early diagnosis and treatment are critical, particularly in cases of malignant melanoma where tumor growth is often rapid.

Katie Lacy, M.D., consultant dermatologist at Guy’s and St Thomas’, who is leading the clinical validation of the hybrid probe, said, “The accurate and early diagnosis of malignant skin lesions is vital to ensure the best possible outcome for patients. This new instrument will allow dermatologists to view not only the surface appearance of skin cancer but, for the first time, to also examine the structures under the skin in the clinic. This will hopefully lead to improved diagnostic accuracy and better treatment.”

Michelson Diagnostics has delivered a VivoSight OCT skin scanner to Guy’s Hospital for the project, and the lesions of 93 patients have already been scanned and are being analysed. The scanner will next be modified to incorporate the hybrid probe, and then more patients will be able to benefit from these enhanced scanning techniques.

For more information: md-ltd.co.uk, guysandstthomas.nhs.uk or kingshealthpartners.org