Medical Design Briefs - September 2021 - 37

cles in suspension in the liquid phantom.
The tests performed did prove to
be successful, validating the outstanding
performances of both modules.
Then, as a second step, the team of
experts performed a series of in vivo
characterization
tests on a model
healthy patient.
By scanning the thyroid gland, simultaneously
with ultrasound imaging,
TRS and DCS, several times a day in different
days and different weeks, they
were to determine the precision of the
LUCA device in measuring the hemodynamic
parameters related to the thyroid
gland.
Recently, the device has been moved
into the clinical environment and tested
on 18 healthy volunteers and 47 patients
were diagnosed with thyroid nodules
and were scheduled for thyroidectomy.
The LUCA device showed potential for
identifying the group of nodules as
benign or malignant, which were stipulated
as unclear cases with the classical
ultrasound screening technique. By analyzing
the metabolic rate of oxygen consumption
and total hemoglobin concentration,
the device was able to classify
thirteen benign and four malignant
nodules with a sensitivity of 100 percent
and specificity of 77 percent.
Dr. Mireia Mora from the August Pi i
Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute
(IDIBAPS) in Barcelona, Spain, which is
responsible for the clinical application
of the tool, under the direction of Prof.
Ramon Gomis, highlights the fact that
" the need to improve the current standards
of thyroid cancer diagnosis has
driven us to participate in this multi -
disciplinary project. We have taken the
first steps in preclinical testing but are
sure that with this technology we will be
able to avoid unnecessary surgeries and
thus improve the quality of life of our
patients. "
■ Diffuse Optics to Improve
Medical Diagnosis and Treatment
Near infrared diffuse optical spectroscopy
is an optical method that provides
significant complementary information
to other medical techniques
used for imaging, such as ultrasounds.
The LUCA device incorporates two different
diffuse optical spectroscopy technologies
(TRS and DCS) to improve the
screening of thyroid nodules for cancer.
These techniques have made it a completely
novel device because it is noninvasive
and safe to use, portable, low
Medical Design Briefs, September 2021
Intro
Cov
ToC
cost, it probes deep enough into the tissue
(>1 cm deep) to give substantial
information about the surrounding tissue,
in this case the thyroid, and it provides
a real-time monitoring evaluation
together with the ultrasound counterpart.
The
TRS and DCS modules consist of
custom-made components, such as laser
heads and off-the-shelf-electronics for
detectors and acquisition electronics,
which makes them cheaper than any
other commercially available TRS and
DCS devices. Despite being low cost, the
custom developed components enhance
performance features allowing the
LUCA device to obtain high quality
measurements of the tissue's hemodynamics
(blood flow and oxygen at the
microvascular level), chemical constitution
(water and lipids concentration) as
well as anatomy.
For more information, visit http://
www.icfo.eu
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Medical Design Briefs - September 2021

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