Infrared microscopy for a systems approach to prostate pathology

描述（由申请人提供）：能够提供新的预后信息和/或帮助病理学家做出准确、客观和自动化决策的技术是前列腺保健中迫切需要的。该项目的主要目标是为临床和研究提供一种化学成像仪器，可以由任何在病理实验室受过训练的人操作。首先，将开发用于高分辨率傅里叶变换红外（FT-IR）光谱成像的新型仪器和分析方法。其次，结构（形态）和生化转化是缓慢和快速生长的肿瘤的特征，将被量化。第三，将开发分析方法，将提取的信息与肿瘤的侵袭潜力联系起来。预测结果将与今天的临床标准（卡坦图）进行比较。一个系统的分析方法提出，以检查重要的组织学和化学转化的特征侵袭性病变。我们期望从这些模型中获得新的生化见解，这将最终解释为什么我们能够准确地定义侵袭性病变。如果该项目成功，它有可能改变患者的治疗决策，并改变组织学评估研究的标准做法。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Technologies that can provide new prognostic information and/or help make accurate, objective and automated decisions that aid the pathologist are sorely needed in prostate healthcare. The major goal of this project is to provide a chemical imaging instrument for clinical and research use that can be operated by any trained person in pathology laboratories. First, novel instrumentation and analytical methods for high-resolution Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopic imaging will be developed. Second, both structural (morphologic) and biochemical transformations that are characteristic of slow and rapidly growing tumors will be quantified. Third, analytical methods will be developed to relate the extracted information to aggressive potential of the tumor. Predictions will be compared to the clinical standard today (Kattan nomogram). A systems analysis approach is proposed to examine important histologic and chemical transformations that characterize aggressive lesions. New biochemical insight is expected from these models that will lead ultimately to an explanation of why we are able to define aggressive lesions accurately. If the project is successful, it has the potential to transform therapy decisions for patients and alter the standard practice in histologic assessment of research.