Rhinology & Otology

Biography

Biography: Maie St John

Abstract

Oral and Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) is the sixth most common cancer in the world. The primary\r\nmanagement of OSCC relies on complete surgical resection of the tumor. However, the establishment of margin-free\r\nresection is often difficult given the devastating side effects of aggressive surgery and the anatomic proximity to vital structures\r\nsuch as the carotid artery and the spinal cord. Positive margin status is associated with significantly decreased survival. Currently,\r\nit is the surgeon’s fingers that determine where the tumor cuts are made, by palpating the edges of the tumor. Accuracy varies\r\nwidely based on the experience of the surgeon and the location and type of tumor. Efficacy is further confounded by the\r\nrisk of damage to adjacent vital structures, which limit resection margins. The goal of this proposal is to evaluate a novel,\r\nnon-invasive, imaging system based on Dynamic Optical Contrast Imaging (DOCI) that has been developed to differentiate\r\nbetween cancerous and normal tissue intra-operatively using OSCC as the model. The imaging system is based on a novel\r\nrealization of temporally dependent measurements of tissue auto-fluorescence that allow the acquisition of specific tissue\r\nproperties over a large field of view. This system is optimized such that it can be used by surgeons at the time of cancer resection\r\nsurgery to gather quantitative information on margins of malignancies and has been extensively validated in ex vivo OSCC\r\nsamples. Companion histology has verified the sensitivity and specificity of the technique. This intra-operative instrument\r\nwould be the first of its kind, giving us the potential to significantly improve the sensitivity and accuracy of determining true\r\nOSCC margins thus enabling the surgeon to save healthy tissue and improve patient outcomes.