Optical Imaging of the Pulmonary Airways in the Assessment of Lung Cancer

描述(申请人提供)：肺癌是癌症相关死亡的主要原因。鳞状细胞癌(SCC)发生在支气管粘膜，目前很难在疾病过程的早期发现。出于这个原因，它通常在发现后进展良好，使患者几乎没有治愈的希望。这项建议的研究重点是开发和测试一种准确的筛查和评估工具，用于检测和诊断肺气道鳞状细胞癌及其前驱病变。希望通过早期发现、诊断和后续治疗，可以大大降低与该病相关的死亡率。本研究项目是基于一种新发展起来的光学成像技术--光学频域成像(OFDI)。对外直接投资是一种非侵入性成像技术，它以与组织病理学相当的分辨率提供生物组织的横断面图像。我们假设，对外直接投资将能够以微观分辨率全面成像肺通道，并基于获得的图像，我们将能够准确地区分和诊断鳞癌及其前驱病变。在该奖项的指导阶段，将建立用于评估支气管病理的对外直接投资诊断标准，并将开发和测试定制的对外直接投资成像探头。在奖项的独立阶段，将开发和测试具有激光标记的对外直接投资引导活组织检查范例，并将进行随后的临床试验，以证明引导活组织检查范例的可行性。在指导阶段，研究培训将是该奖项提案的核心组成部分，主要目的是为候选人提供在肺部医学和病理学方面的坚实基础，以补充她在医学成像和生物医学光学方面的现有专业知识。培训将在马萨诸塞州总医院的威尔曼光医学中心进行，由吉列尔莫·特尔尼和布雷特·布玛博士指导，他们都被认为是光学诊断领域的国际权威，并将在莱希诊所进行，指导人员是介入肺部医学的国际领先者约翰·比姆斯博士。哈佛医学院和马萨诸塞州总医院的正式课程将进一步补充这一培训。K99/Roo奖支持的培训和研究贡献将有助于梅丽莎·苏特博士成为一名成功的独立调查员。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death. Arising in the bronchial mucosa, squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is currently difficult to detect early in the disease process. For this reason it is typically well advanced upon discovery providing patients little hope of cure. The research focus of this proposal is to develop and test an accurate screening and assessment tool for the detection and diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma, and its precursor lesions, in the pulmonary airways. It is hoped that through early detection, diagnosis and consequent treatment the mortality rate associated with the disease can be greatly reduced. This research project is based on a newly developed optical imaging technique termed optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI). OFDI is a noninvasive imaging technology that provides cross-sectional images of biological tissues in resolutions comparable with histopathology. We hypothesize that OFDI will be capable of comprehensively imaging the pulmonary airways at microscopic resolutions and, based on the acquired images, we will be able to accurately differentiate and diagnose SCC and its precursor lesions. During the mentored phase of this award, OFDI diagnostic criteria for the evaluation of bronchial pathology will be established, and a custom OFDI imaging probe will be developed and tested. In the independent phase of the award, an OFDI guided-biopsy paradigm with laser marking will be developed and tested, and a subsequent clinical trial to demonstrate the feasibility of the guided-biopsy paradigm will be conducted. Research training will be a core component of this award proposal during the mentored phase with the primary purpose of providing the candidate with a strong foundation in pulmonary medicine and pathology to supplement her existing expertise in medical imaging and biomedical optics. Training will take place at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine, Massachusetts General Hospital under the mentorship of Drs Guillermo Tearney and Brett Bouma, both considered international authorities in optical diagnostics, and at the Lahey Clinic under the direction of Dr. John Beams, an international leader in interventional pulmonary medicine. This training will be further supplemented with formal coursework at Harvard Medical School, and Massachusetts General Hospital. The training and research contributions supported by this K99/ROO award will serve to establish Dr. Melissa Suter as a successful independent investigator.