EAGER: Early Detection of Ovarian Cancer with Polarized Light Scattering Spectroscopy

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston MA

Investigators

Abstract

0943180 Perelman The purpose of this EAGER proposal is to provide the gynecologic oncologist with a light scattering spectroscopy (LSS) based diagnostic screening tool which will enable physicians to survey ovaries in patients with high levels of CA-125 and/or a family history of ovarian cancer in a minimally invasive fashion, and determine with high probability the presence of dysplasia or early cancer. It will perform measurements on most of the surface of the ovary in about one minute and present the information in real time. Suspicious areas can then be biopsied and the diagnosis verified. This approach should be vastly superior to the present strategies of performing a CA-125 test and ultrasound examination. It will also significantly improve the probability of locating early cancer during the significantly more invasive random biopsies. Thus it will provide a powerful tool for screening the population of patients with high ovarian cancer risk factors for early precancerous changes. The investigators will collect LSS spectra from both malignant and benign ex vivo ovarian tissue in order to confirm the light scattering spectral signatures of dysplasia and early cancer and design the diagnostic algorithm. They will also design and build the prototype clinical instrument with an ultrasound guided polarized LSS (PLSS) minimally invasive probe.