Mauna Kea’s microscopy system found effective in cancer detection

The 14-patient clinical trial evaluated the ability of Mauna Kea Technology’s Cellvizio confocal microscopy system to detect cancer in biliary tract tissue by examining tissue at the cellular level during endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), a procedure used to diagnose cancer of the bile ducts and pancreas.

The study found that Cellvizio predicted cancer with an accuracy rate of 91.7%, which was superior to the 76.9% accuracy rate of histopathological analysis of biopsied tissue taken from strictures. Usually, the preoperative diagnosis of cancer of the bile ducts, medically known as cholangiocarcinoma, is associated with a low accuracy rate.

Alexander Meining, managing director of the Technical University of Munich, said: “This new tool could be of utmost importance as cholangiocarcinoma remains one of the cancers with the poorest prognosis. We believe the potential for improved accuracy of diagnosis is due to the real- time, cellular-level images the technology provides on benign and malignant biliaro-pancreatic strictures.”