An imaging technique under development, called hyperspectral imaging (HSI), may one day be the standard for detecting and characterizing early cancerous changes in the GI tract. The visualization technique is being applied to endoscopy using a conventional surgical system and a set of camera filters that can potentially help to better detect abnormal cells.

Conventional endoscopy leverages white light and detectors that replicate the human eye, which detects light in red, green, and blue color channels. HSI increases the number of color channels that can be viewed to more than 50.

The cells change as cancer develops and that can be seen through color changes in the tissues. Dr. Sarah Bohndiek, from the University of Cambridge in the U.K., who is leading the development of this HSI application, believes that it can improve the specificity of lesion identification because the colors can be used to spot abnormal tissue.
HSI gathers and processes information from across the electromagnetic spectrum. It divides the color spectrum into many more bands and can be extended beyond the visible range of light to generate images that reveal the physiology and chemical composition of human tissues.

The technique is already showing potential for noninvasive diagnosis and image-guided surgery — including showing promise in detecting Barrett’s esophagus, which is a precancerous condition in some patients.

The systems that are currently available to perform HSI are complicated, expensive and not suitable for clinical use. To solve this, Bohndiek and her team have developed a small and affordable fluorescence HSI system that is being used to image a range of dyes in realistic tissue backgrounds.

"We believe our new fluorescence HSI system, which could be readily incorporated into standard clinical endoscopies, brings the diagnostic power of hyperspectral imaging one step closer to being used for the rapid detection of early cancerous changes within the GI tract,” she said in a statement.

HSI was presented yesterday at United European Gastroenterology (UEG) Week Vienna 2016. According to UEG, it’s the largest gastroenterology meeting in Europe.

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