Diagnostic tools and innovative therapies improve patient...(needed to better understand the benefits...),Health

Dr. Keith will present this study on Tuesday, August, 4, 2009 at 1:30 pm PT in Moscone West, Room 2020-2022, Level 2.

Lung cancer kills more men and women than any other cancer. Although early detection has been shown to significantly increase the patient's chance of survival, screening for lung cancer is not routinely practiced. Chest X-ray and computed tomography (CT) have been proposed as screening tools; however, their two main drawbacks are the lack of discrimination between cancerous and benign lesionsmost lesions turn out to be harmless after needle biopsiesand the inability to detect pre-cancerous lesions.

It has been known for decades that sputum (phlegm) from lung cancer patients frequently contains cancer cells that can be microscopically detected. Cancer diagnoses based on human, slide-based review, is correct most often for normal cases. However, this method yields inconsistent results among cytologists and usually is associated with an unacceptable false negative rate.

The Lung Cell Evaluation Device (LuCED) is an automated 3D cell imaging platform, aimed at detection of pre-cancerous and cancerous cells in sputum. The technology was developed by researchers at VisionGate, Inc., in collaboration with scientists from the University of Washington. In this study, the investigators assessed a large number of normal cells and cancer cells. LuCED automatically produces 3D cell volumetric data, allowing for the measurement of 3D cellular features that correlate with abnormal conditions. The cell measurements are then translated into an analytical score that reflects the patient's cancer risk. LuCED, based on 3D cell analysis, pr
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