I-Corps: Point-of-Care Skin Cancer Imaging Device

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括开发一种成像系统，该系统解决了当前临床对非侵入性成像方法的需求，该方法可以对皮肤进行高分辨率的深度成像，同时提供恶性组织和正常组织之间的大组织病理学对比。这将为皮肤科医生提供宝贵的帮助，以提高肿瘤检测的准确性。该设备的目标市场将是全球皮肤病诊断设备市场，预计到2025年将达到53亿美元的价值。在诊所实践皮肤科的医疗专业人员、成熟的设备制造商和产品分销商是这个市场的主要利益相关者。拟议的系统最终将集成在一个框架中，以非常低的制造成本制造一个紧凑（手持）和实时成像设备。通过在早期阶段诊断肿瘤，该设备将节省大量的时间和精力，减少患者的不适，并为患者个人和国家显著降低成本。美国的医疗保健系统。I-Corps项目调查了一种基于“合成超宽带毫米波成像”方法开发的新型皮肤癌成像设备的潜在商业市场。在该方法中，合成了任何常规设计方法都无法实现的毫米波波段的超宽成像带宽，从而显著提高了采集图像的分辨率。该方法有望使毫米波成像技术应用于皮肤成像和皮肤癌检测。该技术已通过概念验证实验证明是有效的。首先，正常皮肤的毫米波介电特性与两种最常见的皮肤癌（基底细胞癌和鳞状细胞癌）之间存在统计学上的显著差异。这些结果验证了所提出的系统提供基于组织病理学对比的皮肤病变评估的潜力。此外，使用包含球形肿瘤模型的逼真皮肤模拟模型证实了将所提出的成像方法用于皮肤癌检测的可行性。最终开发的产品将是一种手持式医疗点毫米波成像设备，与最先进的技术相比，它提供了更高的图像分辨率。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/commercial potential of this I-Corps project includes the development of an imaging system which addresses the current clinical need for a non-invasive imaging methodology that could image the skin over its depth with high resolutions while offering large histopathological contrasts between malignant and normal tissues. This will provide invaluable assistance to dermatologists with respect to improving tumor detection accuracies. The target market for this device would be the global dermatology diagnostic devices market which is expected to reach a value of USD 5.3 billion by the year 2025. Medical professionals who practice dermatology in clinics, established equipment manufacturers, and product distributors are the main stakeholders of this market. The proposed system will be ultimately integrated in a single framework, resulting in a compact (handheld) and real-time imaging device at very low manufacturing costs. By diagnosing tumors at an early stage, the proposed device will save tremendous amounts of time, effort, and patient discomfort and provide significant cost reductions for both the individual patient and the nation?s healthcare system.This I-Corps project investigates potential commercial markets for a new skin cancer imaging device developed based on the "Synthetic Ultra-Wideband Millimeter-wave Imaging" approach. In this approach, an ultra-wide imaging bandwidth in the millimeter-wave regime that cannot be realized by any conventional design method is assembled synthetically, resulting in significant improvements in the resolution of the acquired images. This approach is expected to enable the millimeter-wave imaging technology to be applied to skin imaging and skin cancer detection. The proposed technology has proven to be effective through proof-of-concept experiments. Firstly, statistically significant contrasts have been observed between the millimeter-wave dielectric properties of normal skin and two of the most common types of skin cancer, basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma. These results verify the potential of the proposed system to provide histopathological-contrast-based evaluations of skin lesions. Furthermore, the feasibility of employing the proposed imaging method for skin cancer detection has been confirmed using realistic skin-mimicking phantoms containing spherical tumor models. The final developed product will be a hand-held, point-of-care millimeter-wave imaging device which provides significantly higher image resolutions compared to the state-of-the-art technology.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.