SBIR Phase I: A novel label-free imaging device for real-time detection of lymph nodes during laparoscopic cancer surgeries

这一小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目的更广泛影响是使外科医生能够在癌症手术中直接看到淋巴结，以（1）提高肺癌，直肠癌和某些妇科癌症的护理质量;（2）通过加速癌症手术中耗时且可能不准确的步骤来节省医院的成本;（3）提高医院认证绩效，因为淋巴结数量是一个质量指标，许多医院未能达到医疗当局规定的要求。数十年的临床证据表明，评估淋巴结与癌症患者的更高生存率有关。该项目将开发一种设备，可无缝集成到现有的手术方案中，并用作现有腹腔镜塔和手术机器人的配件。任何肿瘤医院都可以购买该设备，将其连接到现有的塔或手术机器人上，并以合理的价格立即提高护理质量，手术效率和认证性能。拟议的项目解决了肿瘤外科中的一个困难和常见问题-在癌症手术中寻找淋巴结。淋巴结在癌症的背景下至关重要，因为它们是癌症扩散的通道。然而，淋巴结的颜色是半透明的，并且被脂肪包围，也是半透明的，这使得很难用目前的光学系统找到它们。该项目旨在开发一种无标记光学成像设备，以真实的时间显示淋巴结，而无需任何注射。该项目的目标是（1）建立一个附属设备连接到一个市售的腹腔镜塔，（2）获得光学性能测试结果，从动物尸体，（3）获得光学性能测试结果，从尸体标本。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准的支持。

The broader impact of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to enable surgeons to see lymph nodes directly during cancer surgeries to (1) improve the quality-of-care for lung cancer, rectal cancer, and some gynecological cancers; and (2) save costs for hospitals by accelerating a time-consuming and potentially inaccurate step in cancer surgeries; (3) improve hospital accreditation performance, since lymph node number is a quality metric and many hospitals fail to meet the requirements stipulated by medical authorities. Decades of clinical evidence have shown evaluating lymph nodes is linked to higher survival rates for cancer patients. This project will develop a device to be seamlessly integrated into the existing surgical protocols and used as an accessory to existing laparoscopic towers and surgical robots. Any cancer hospital will be able to purchase this device, attach it to their existing towers or surgical robots, and improve their quality of care, surgery efficiency, and accreditation performance immediately at an affordable price.The proposed project addresses a difficult and common problem in surgical oncology – finding lymph nodes in cancer surgeries. Lymph nodes are critically important in the context of cancer because they are the channels for cancers to spread. However, lymph nodes are translucent in color and surrounded by fat, also translucent, making it difficult to find them with current optical systems. This project aims to develop a label-free optical imaging device to visualize lymph nodes with high contrast in real time without any injection. The goals of this project are to (1) build an accessory device attachable to a commercially available laparoscopic tower, (2) obtain optical performance testing results from animal carcasses, and (3) obtain optical performance testing results from cadaver specimens.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.