Jason Ford

PROSCOPE to shine light on bowel cancer diagnosis

News

A photonic tool is being developed to help spot the signs of bowel cancer, a disease that accounts for 16,000 deaths annually in the UK alone.

Colonoscopies are the regarded the ‘gold standard’ for identifying bowel cancer early but can miss up to 20 per cent of precancerous cells.

Now, a photonic device is being developed to provide a cellular level view of the colon in real time, which will allow doctors to give an immediate diagnosis. Instigated by the pan-European PROSCOPE consortium, the aim is to develop a platform consisting of a backend system and optical probe heads that are compatible with endoscopes.

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When examining polyps – clusters of cells that form along the ridges of the colon that could go on to develop cancer – doctors can miss a precancerous growth. When polyps are smaller than 10 mm in diameter, multiple in number, or flat in appearance, they are often associated with a higher miss rate.

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