Fluorescent Dye for Cancer Margin Identification
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current surgical methods for skin cancer treatment face challenges in accurately identifying the boundaries of cancerous tissue, leading to potential incomplete removal and the need for additional surgeries.
Innovation Solution
A surgical system and method utilizing a cancer identifying fluid that emits visible light when contacting cancerous tissue and exposed to ultraviolet light, allowing for the visualization of positive margins during surgery, ensuring complete tissue removal in a single procedure.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the section of tissue removed is minimized to mitigate surgical impact, then patient recovery is improved, but the risk of incomplete cancerous tissue removal increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies fluorescent dyes that change color or emit light when contacting cancerous tissue. The dye penetrates tissue and binds to cancer cells, causing them to fluoresce under specific lighting conditions. This allows surgeons to visually distinguish cancerous tissue boundaries in real-time, enabling precise removal of only the necessary tissue while ensuring complete cancerous tissue excision.
2Reliability
If the tissue removal margin is expanded to ensure complete cancerous tissue removal, then treatment efficacy is improved, but the amount of healthy tissue removed increases
Solution Approach 1:
The fluorescent dye selectively accumulates in cancerous tissue and emits light when exposed to specific wavelengths. This optical contrast allows surgeons to precisely identify the exact boundaries of cancerous tissue, removing only the necessary margin while preserving adjacent healthy tissue that does not exhibit fluorescence.
3Measurement precision
If intraoperative identification of cancerous tissue boundaries is improved, then surgical precision is improved, but the complexity of the surgical system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses fluorescent dyes with specific excitation and emission wavelengths. A portable UV or blue light source excites the dye in cancerous tissue, causing it to emit visible light. This simple optical mechanism provides real-time visual feedback without requiring complex imaging equipment, maintaining surgical system simplicity while achieving high boundary identification accuracy.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Facilitates rapid identification and removal of all cancerous tissue, reducing the risk of residual cancer and eliminating the need for secondary surgeries, thereby improving treatment efficacy and patient outcomes.
Implementation Method 1
a cancer identifying fluid that is configured to emit light in response to the cancer identifying fluid both (a) contacting the cancerous cells and (b) being exposed to an activation light
Data Source
AI summary
A surgical system for identifying cancerous tissue includes a dish configured to receive a tissue sample, a frame including a base defining a recess configured to receive the dish, an upright extending upward from the base, and an overhang extending over the base, and a light source coupled to the overhang and positioned to emit light toward the recess.