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rmining whether a suspicious sore is benign or potentially cancerous has remained scientifically problematic. "A major reason is looks alone can be deceiving," said Rosin, referring to the common practice of diagnosing cancer based on the general appearance and staining patterns of tissue biopsy. "What's been badly needed in screening for oral cancer is a way to visualize the biological information within and let it tell you whether or not a lesion is likely to become cancerous."

Rosin said the VELScope goes a long way toward answering this unmet need. "Historically, the problem in developing a fluorescence-reading instrument has been largely organizational," said Rosin, a leader of the British Columbia Oral Cancer Prevention Program. "No one scientific discipline possesses sufficient expertise to build such a sophisticated imaging device, and the needed interdisciplinary groups weren't forming to tackle the problem."

This lack of communication changed a few years ago when Rosin broached the subject to Dr. Calum MacAulay, the head of the British Columbia Cancer Research Center's cancer imaging program and who has extensive training in physics, pathology, and engineering imaging devices. Based on these discussions, MacAulay and post-doctoral fellow Pierre Lane agreed to begin the technologically challenging process of designing a hand-held device that also would be user friendly in the dentist's office.

Starting with a crude, light-emitting box and a pair of goggles that their group had previously cobbled together to visualize skin cancer, Lane and MacAulay gradually progressed to the one-step device reported today. "We essentially refined and integrated the box-and-goggles concept into one device," said MacAulay, who also works closely with a corporate partner that would like to commercialize the VELScope. "The box was molded into the lightweight, hand-held structure, a flexible cord attaches the examination light, and the goggles b
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Contact: Bob Kuska
kuskar@nidcr.nih.gov
301-594-7560
NIH/National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research
10-Apr-2006

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