Back With a sensitivity of 100%, microwave images distinguish between normal and cancerous colon tissue

With a sensitivity of 100%, microwave images distinguish between normal and cancerous colon tissue

With a very high sensitivity also for other types of dysplasia, it marks a diagnostic breakthrough as a result of the MiWEndo project, the details of which are published by researchers of the Physense and SIMBIOsys research groups, within BCN MedTech, ​​in collaboration with researchers from the UPC and Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, ​​in the journal Medical Physics.

11.06.2018

 

Measurement of the relative permittivity of the tissues of the colon. The lines represent the median values and the coloured areas show a 95% confidence interval. HGD and LGD present high-grade dysplasia and low-grade dysplasia, respectively. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29807391

A study published on 28 May in the journal Medical Physics presents the results of the proof of concept of the project MiWEndo, currently in its transfer and innovation phase, that could improve the results of endoscopy for the early detection and prevention of colorectal cancer through the use of microwave imaging.

The work has been carried out by the researchers Marta Guardiola, Òscar Camara and Miguel Ángel González Ballester (ICREA), of the Physense and SIMBIOsys research groups within BCN MedTech in the Department of Information and Communication Technologies (DTIC) at UPF, in collaboration with the CommSensLab group of the UPC and Hospital Clínic of Barcelona. The project is backed by the programmes: Industry of Knowledge: Seed and Product of the autonomous Government of Catalonia, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); Caixaimpulse of ‘La Caixa’, and the Technological Development in Health projects of the Carlos III Health Institute.

Colorectal cancer can be prevented through early detection and the removal of polyps, often precursors of the disease. Currently, the most accurate test is a colonoscopy, but even so, it is estimated that 22% of polyps go unidentified due to the visualization limitations of the endoscopic technique. In this article, the authors demonstrate the potential of microwave imaging and the dielectric properties of tissues, such as complex permittivity or biological tissue response to an electric field applied through an external source, as a complementary method to detect polyps and cancerous tissue in the colon.

“The main goal of this work has been to measure in ex vivo human samples the complex permittivity of different types of colon polyps, cancer and normal intestinal mucosa to see if there is enough contrast between the dielectric properties of these samples to allow their histological classification”

The dielectric properties of biological tissues have been used in a wide variety of applications, such as evaluating the safety of wireless technologies and the design of medical diagnostic or treatment techniques (microwave imaging, hyperthermia and ablation). “The goal of this work has been to measure in ex vivo human samples the complex permittivity of different types of colon polyps, cancer and normal intestinal mucosa to see if there is enough contrast between the dielectric properties of these samples to allow their histological classification”, states Marta Guardiola, first author of the study.

As the malignancy of the tissue increases, so does the value of complex permittivity

Hence, the authors characterized the dielectric properties through the complex permittivity of different types of biological tissue: healthy colon, colon with cancer, and histological samples of different types of polyps from 23 patients, by means of a coaxial probe between 0.5 and 20 GHz. With the measurements taken, they classified up to five groups of histological types and, as evidenced by the work published in Medical Physics, the authors found that, as the malignancy of the tissue increases, progressively so does the value of complex permittivity, which demonstrates the effectiveness of this new method to detect colon cancer ex vivo.

The sensitivity and effectiveness of this new method is 100% for the diagnosis of cancer

With regard to the sensitivity and effectiveness of this new method, compared to standard colonoscopy (shown in brackets), the authors say that the sensitivity and specificity of the proposed method is 100% for the diagnosis of cancer (compared to 95); 91% for adenomas with high-grade dysplasia (compared to 62); 100% for adenomas with low-grade dysplasia (compared to 61); and 100% for polyps with hyperplasia (instead of 74%) All this leads us to consider developing in the not too distant future “a microwave endoscopic device that can supplement the results of colonoscopy with functional information about tissues”, concludes Guardiola.

Reference work:

Marta Guardiola, Santiago Buitrago, Glòria Fernández-Esparrach, Joan M. O'Callaghan, Jordi RomeuJ, Miriam Cuatrecasas, Henry Córdova, Miguel Ángel González Ballester, Oscar Camara (2018), “Dielectric properties of colon polyps, cancer and normal mucosa: ex vivo measurements from 0.5 to 20 GHz”, Medical Physics, May 28 . 

 

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