SBIR Phase II: Electrical Property Detection of Residual Cancer in the Surgery Suite

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目旨在将外科医生使用的手持式探头推向市场，以确定手术伤口和区域淋巴结没有癌症。这项技术将为通过询问组织的电特性来检测癌症组织提供一种高度创新、快速和准确的设备。目前，切除受影响的组织必须在病理实验室确认，导致延迟长达36小时。如果残留的癌症没有被发现，患者可能会接受多次手术，甚至更糟，疾病可能会复发。这项创新技术将为外科医生提供一种工具，以确保所有癌症都被切除，帮助病理学家帮助识别恶性肿瘤，并为乳房手术患者提供更好的结果，以避免第二次或第三次手术。这项研究的更广泛影响将是开发和实施一种新的、准确、快速、廉价、非侵入性、低功率的手持探头，可以帮助外科医生切除所有癌症组织，并帮助病理学家诊断特定的肿瘤区域。癌症是美国的一个主要健康问题，每年有超过140万新病例和56万人死亡，花费720亿美元。特别是，乳腺癌的检测有严重的缺点：癌症很难在致密的乳腺组织中发现，往往依赖于侵入性造影剂的使用，而且先进的检测技术昂贵，不是整个人群都能获得的。此外，一些类型的肿瘤不容易识别。只有在切除所有癌症的情况下，外科手术才是安全的。显然，迫切需要新技术来改进对癌症组织的检测。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project aims to bring to market a hand-held probe used by the surgeon to ascertain that the surgical wound and regional lymph nodes are clear of cancer. This technology will provide a highly innovative, rapid and accurate device for detecting cancerous tissue by interrogating the electrical properties of the tissues. Currently, removal of affected tissue must be confirmed in the pathology laboratory resulting in delays of up to 36 hours. If the residual cancer is left undetected the patient may be subjected to multiple surgeries or worse, may have a reoccurrence of the disease. This innovative technology will provide surgeons with a tool to ensure all cancer is removed, assist pathologists to help identify malignancies, and provide better results for breast surgery patients to avoid second or third surgeries.The broader impacts of this research will be the development and implementation of a novel, accurate, rapid, inexpensive, non-invasive, low power, hand-held probe that can assist the surgeon in the removal of all of the cancerous tissue and assist the pathologist in the diagnosis of specific tumor regions. Cancer is a major health problem in the US with over 1.4 million new cases and 560,000 deaths at a cost of $72 billion each year. In particular, the detection of breast cancer has serious drawbacks: cancer is hard to find in dense breast tissue, often depend on the use of invasive contrast agents, and advanced detection technologies are expensive and not available to the entire population. In addition, some types of tumors are not easily identifiable. Surgical procedures are safe only if all cancer is removed. Clearly, there is a pressing need for new technologies that would improve the detection of cancerous tissue.