Cancer Detection System

A spectroscopy system from optical sensing specialist Ocean Optics forms the basis of a new, real-time, non-invasive cancer detection system currently undergoing clinical trials. The CancerScanner(tm) technology uses an Ocean Optics system consisting of light source, probe and spectrometer to detect alterations of cells from normal to pre-cancerous and cancerous conditions in the human body rather than in the lab. Developed by the Bioscience Division of the U.S. Department of Energy, the technology has been licensed to, and further developed by, SpectraPath Technologies. It is hoped that the system will allow physicians to screen patients quickly, providing instant diagnoses, without requiring invasive and time-consuming biopsies for skin, cervical, brain, oesophageal and colorectal cancers. At the heart of the system is a USB2000 palm sized spectrometer. It is used to analyse the elastic light scattering (ELS) spectrum produced by cellular nuclei.