Project Title

In vivo testing and up-gradation of prototype optical probe for cervical and oral precancer detection

Project Images

Image Caption:Photograph of in-house fabricated portable device for cervical precancer detection. Inset shows cervix of whole uterus illuminated by the probe.  

Web Abstract

Cervical and oral cancers are leading causes of death in India. Conventional screening techniques for cervical cancer viz. Pap smear, colposcopy and biopsy are time consuming, expensive and limited in specificity or sensitivity. Similarly for oral cancer, Oral cytology and Toluidine blue tests are also limited in specificity or sensitivity. Thus an accurate, fast, minimally invasive system that reduces subjective assessment is required. Fluorescence based prototype devices for cervical and oral precancer detection have been designed, fabricated and tested in vitro in our laboratory in collaboration with GSVM Medical College, Kanpur. The cervical precancer detection is based on intrinsic fluorescence extracted from polarized fluorescence and elastic scattering. The objective is to test devices for in vivo detection of cervical and oral cancer and up-grading oral cancer probe to an imaging device. To make devices affordable and accessible to remote areas, the prototypes will be augmented by wireless control and fiber-optics.