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

这项小企业创新研究（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、直肠癌和一些妇科癌症的护理质量；(2)通过加快癌症手术中耗时且可能不准确的步骤，为医院节省成本；(3)提高医院认证绩效，因为淋巴结数是一种质量指标，很多医院达不到医疗主管部门规定的要求。几十年的临床证据表明，评估淋巴结与癌症患者更高的存活率有关。该项目将开发一种设备，可以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附件。任何一家癌症医院都可以购买这种设备，将其连接到他们现有的塔或手术机器人上，并以可承受的价格立即提高他们的护理质量、手术效率和认证性能。提出的项目解决了外科肿瘤学中一个困难和常见的问题-在癌症手术中发现淋巴结。淋巴结在癌症中非常重要，因为它们是癌症扩散的通道。然而，淋巴结是半透明的，并且被脂肪包围，也是半透明的，这使得用目前的光学系统很难找到它们。本项目旨在开发一种无标签光学成像设备，无需任何注射即可实时显示高对比度的淋巴结。这个项目的目标是：(1)建立一个附加在市售的腹腔镜塔上的辅助装置，(2)从动物尸体中获得光学性能测试结果，(3)从尸体标本中获得光学性能测试结果。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.