OURIMPACT
Theragnostic PROJECT
Dr. Christopher J. Hartnick, M.D.'s team is creating and developing high-resolution, non-invasive light-based endoscopes to visualize, monitor and treat laryngeal diseases with the ultimate goal of improving surgical decision-making and voice outcome.
Imaging modalities such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging ("MRI"), Computed Tomography ("CT"), X-rays and Ultrasound are essential for the diagnosis of laryngeal pathologies. However, their resolution is insufficient to visualize microscopic characteristics (small lesions <1mm).
Although, Histopathology (excised samples, stained and evaluated under a microscope) is the "gold standard,” a large amount of false-negative results are produced due to sampling errors.
Based on our research, non-invasive optical imaging modalities such as Optical Coherence Tomography ("OCT") have shown the potential to improve our understanding and diagnosis of laryngeal lesions.
OCT is analogous to Ultrasound with a distinction that a light wave is used instead of a sound wave and a different detection scheme is utilized. OCT can acquire images to a depth of 2 to 3 mm in biological tissues. OCT reveals distinct morphological features of lesions that may orient treatments where a diagnostic is needed.