Volume 10, Number 1 • January/February 2002 • Advanced Technologies

Shedding Light on Cancer

This BioScan System has been used to locate and confirm the presence of a cancerous breast lesion by detecting the cancerŐs ability to recruit a new blood supply—one of the hallmarks of a malignant lesion. Photo courtesy of Jet Propulsion Laboratory. .

Studies have determined that cancer cells exude nitric oxide, which causes changes in blood flow in tissue surrounding cancer, that can be detected by an advanced sensor developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The BioScan System™ was developed by OmniCorder Technologies, Inc., of Stony Brook, New York. The system has been cleared to market by the Food and Drug Administration since December 1999, and has been tested by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute of Boston, Massachusetts.

Based on a sensor called the Quantum Well Infrared Photodetector (QWIP), the BioScan System is sensitive to temperature changes of less than 0.027° Fahrenheit (0.015° Celsius) and has a speed of more than 200 frames per second. It causes no discomfort to the patient and uses no ionizing radiation. The digital sensor detects the infrared energy emitted from the body, thus “seeing” the minute differences associated with blood flow changes.

The technology has been licensed for noninvasive detection of skin cancer. Physicians are also using it during brain surgery to visualize a tumor’s perimeter. The technology was inducted into the US Space Foundation Hall of Fame in 2001 in recognition of its potential uses in medicine, firefighting and industry, as well as astronomy.

“It is a great pleasure to see something we developed being used for public benefit,” said Sarath Gunapala, co-inventor and principal engineer of the sensor developed at JPL, “especially in medical applications, such as the early detection of cancer.” Q

For more information, contact Surath Gunapala at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 818/354-1880, sarath.d.gunapala@jpl.nasa.gov. Please mention you read about it in Innovation.

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