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Biomedical subjects

Louis-Michel Wong Kee Song

Publications and source records attributed to Louis-Michel Wong Kee Song.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Endoscopic detection of early upper GI cancers.

The detection of early-stage neoplastic lesions in the upper GI tract is associated with improved survival and the potential for complete endoscopic resection that is minimally invasive and less morbid than surgery. Despite technological advances in standard white-light endoscopy, the ability of the endoscopist to reliably detect dysplastic and early cancerous changes in the upper GI tract remains limited. In conditions such as Barrett's oesophagus, practice guidelines recommend periodic endoscopic surveillance with multiple biopsies, a methodology that is hindered by random sampling error, inconsistent histopathological interpretation, and delay in diagnosis. Early detection may be enhanced by several promising diagnostic modalities such as chromoendoscopy, magnification endoscopy, and optical spectroscopic/imaging techniques, as these modalities offer the potential to identify in real-time lesions that are inconspicuous under conventional endoscopy. The combination of novel diagnostic techniques and local endoscopic therapies will provide the endoscopist with much needed tools that can considerably enhance the detection and management of early stage lesions in the upper GI tract.

Barrett Esophagus↗

Optical spectroscopy for the detection of dysplasia in Barrett's esophagus.

Patients with Barrett's esophagus (BE) undergo periodic endoscopic surveillance with multiple biopsy examinations in an attempt to identify dysplastic and early cancerous lesions at a time when intervention can be beneficial. However, this surveillance approach is hindered by low sampling yield, random sampling error, pathology-associated costs, and delay in diagnosis. Optical spectroscopy offers the potential to identify tissue pathology accurately in real time. The technique uses diagnostic molecular and/or microstructural information contained in light-tissue interactions such as fluorescence, elastic scattering, and inelastic (Raman) scattering. As an adjunct to endoscopy, optical spectroscopy has the capacity to enhance lesion detection in premalignant conditions such as BE. This article highlights the current status and future prospects of optical spectroscopy in BE.

Barrett Esophagus↗

Fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy.

Table 2 provides a summary of selected in vivo fluorescence and Raman studies performed in BE. Although the findings from these studies appear promising, these techniques are still under development, and it is anticipated that technological refinements will further enhance their diagnostic accuracy. Ultimately, however, large-scale prospective clinical trials are required to determine their true diagnostic potential in BE and other sites. Ideally, the instrumentation of choice would be a real-time endoscopic system that combines excellent diagnostic accuracy with wide-area sampling. In this regard, fluorescence imaging is most appealing, although a variety of issues remain to be resolved, including the choice between autofluorescence versus drug-induced fluorescence and the problematic distinction between dysplastic (true positive) and confounding background metaplastic fluorescence (false positive), among others. It is also not clear whether exogenous fluorophores are necessary to achieve clinically useful sensitivity and specificity for lesion detection in BE. Point spectroscopic techniques, either fluorescence or Raman scattering, are inherently limited by the small volume of tissue (biopsy specimen size) they sample, but more detailed information can be extracted from the spectra, which may increase diagnostic accuracy. Moreover, it may be that the optimal system will be a combination of multiple optical spectroscopic or imaging techniques (multimodality approach), as suggested by Georgakoudi et al. For instance, a lesion could be detected by fluorescence imaging and its dysplastic nature characterized (graded) by Raman spectroscopy. In this era of cost containment, however, the critical challenge is to demonstrate whether an increase in diagnostic accuracy merits investment in costly technology, regardless of the technique used.

Barrett Esophagus↗

Diagnostic potential of near-infrared Raman spectroscopy in the colon: differentiating adenomatous from hyperplastic polyps.

BACKGROUND: Near-infrared Raman spectroscopy is a promising optical technique for GI tissue diagnosis. This study assessed the diagnostic potential of near-infrared Raman spectroscopy in the colon by evaluating its ability to distinguish between adenomatous and hyperplastic polyps. METHODS: Ex vivo and in vivo Raman spectra of colon polyps were collected by using a custom-built, fiber-optic, near-infrared Raman spectroscopic system. Multivariate statistical techniques, including principal component analysis and linear discriminant analysis, were used to develop diagnostic algorithms for classifying colon polyps based on their spectral characteristics. With the number of samples available, spectral classification of polyps was tested by using a leave-one-out, cross-validation method. RESULTS: Fifty-four ex vivo Raman spectra were analyzed (20 hyperplastic, 34 adenomatous). The spectral-based diagnostic algorithms identified adenomatous polyps with 91% sensitivity, 95% specificity, and 93% accuracy. In vivo, adenomas (n = 10) were distinguished from hyperplastic polyps (n = 9) with 100% sensitivity, 89% specificity, and 95% accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: Near-infrared Raman spectroscopy differentiated adenomatous from hyperplastic polyps with high diagnostic accuracy. To our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of the potential of near-infrared Raman spectroscopy for differentiation of colonic polyps during GI endoscopy.

Adenomatous Polyps↗