'Digistain' technology may transform cancer diagnosis
A new technology promises to eliminate the human subjectivity and variability in grading cancer tumors, according to research published in Convergent Science Physical Oncology.
The “Digistain” technology uses invisible mid-infrared light to photograph tissue slices which maps out the chemical changes that signal the onset of cancer.
According to the study, led by a team from the Department of Physics and the Department of Surgery and Cancer at Imperial College London, Digistain measures the ‘nuclear-to-cytoplasmic-ratio’ (NCR), which is a biomarker for a wide range of cancers. The process typically involves a scientist looking at a sample under a microscope and judging the severity of the disease by eye alone.
"Our machine gives a quantitative 'Digistain index' (DI) score, corresponding to the NCR, and this study shows that it is an extremely reliable indicator of the degree of progression of the disease,” said lead author Chris Phillips, professor with the Department of Physics at Imperial London in a news story. “Because it is based on a physical measurement, rather than a human judgement, it promises to remove the element of chance in cancer diagnosis.”
Scientists conducted a double-blind pilot trial with two adjacent slices taken from 75 cancer biopsies. One slice was graded by clinicians using the standard hematoxylin and eosin (H+E) chemical staining protocol. It was also used to determine the area of the slice that contained the tumor—the” region of interest.”
Phillips and colleagues found the DI score correlated “significantly” with tumor grade, claiming the results promise to eliminate the human error that can affect biopsy grading.
"Even with this modest number of samples, the correlation we saw between the DI score and the H+E grade would only happen by chance 1 time in 1400 trials,” Phillips said in the story. “The strength of this correlation makes us extremely optimistic that Digistain will be able to eliminate subjectivity and variability in biopsy grading."
The NCR feature that Digistain measures is common to a large number of cancers, potentially making the technology useful in diagnosing many varieties of the disease.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.