Endoscopy is one of the most innovative areas in medical technology and technical development has by no means reached the end of the road. Scientists are still seeking technologies that could provide important information to support diagnosis, such as degree of malformation, tumour size, tumour and polyp detection, etc. This information is of particular relevance to the types of cancer that are diagnosed by video endoscopy, such as stomach and bowel cancer, all kinds of tumours in the mouth, throat or larynx, and lung cancer.

Malignant cells?

Recent imaging technologies may have improved the image contrast, but do not provide any spectral information on the tissue examined. CTR’s experts are researching into technologies that use spectral data acquisition and analysis to provide key information on the state of cells and cell components, and consequently display it visually. The physician would then have support in making the diagnosis and selecting appropriate treatment.

Part of the COMET project Spectral Imaging for Life Science involved building a prototype for multispectral endoscopy and testing it in a clinical environment with tissue samples. Initial evaluations revealed that the expert’s opinion was consistent to a great extent with the calculated results shown live in the endoscopy video.

This project therefore successfully proved that a multispectral video endoscopy system can be used to acquire important information for supporting diagnosis and displaying it live.