Multispectral Skin Cancer Screening Device
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for detecting skin cancer are invasive, costly, and lack accuracy, making early detection difficult and often resulting in false positives or negatives, with no affordable, non-invasive devices available for self-screening.
Innovation Solution
A non-invasive device using multispectral imaging with broadband and coherent light sources to produce high-resolution, three-dimensional images of skin tissue, allowing for accurate detection of skin cancers beneath the surface without the need for invasive procedures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If biopsy is performed to determine if a lesion is cancerous, then diagnostic accuracy is improved, but the procedure becomes invasive and requires waiting period for results
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an optical imaging system as an intermediary between visual inspection and biopsy. The system uses light sources and detectors to capture optical properties of skin lesions, providing diagnostic information without direct tissue sampling. This intermediary approach maintains diagnostic accuracy while eliminating the invasiveness of biopsy procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical biopsy procedure with an optical detection system. Instead of physically removing and analyzing tissue samples, the system uses electromagnetic radiation to probe and characterize skin lesions, substituting a non-invasive optical field-based approach for the traditional mechanical tissue sampling method.
2Reliability
If multiple detection techniques are combined to improve accuracy, then detection reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple detection techniques (broadband light detection and coherent light detection) into a single integrated system. The broadband light sources and coherent light sources are merged with multiple detectors to simultaneously capture various optical properties of skin tissue, improving detection reliability through multi-parameter analysis while maintaining system integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent creates a universal detection platform that performs multiple functions: characterizing optical properties, detecting skin cancers, and providing three-dimensional imaging. The system uses a single apparatus with multiple light sources and detectors that can execute various detection modes, reducing the need for separate specialized devices and thereby managing complexity while enhancing reliability.
3Ease of operation
If invasive procedures are avoided to improve ease of use, then patient comfort and accessibility are improved, but diagnostic accuracy deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces invasive mechanical biopsy procedures with non-invasive optical detection. The system uses electromagnetic radiation to probe skin tissue properties, enabling accurate cancer detection without physical tissue removal. This substitution maintains diagnostic precision while dramatically improving patient comfort and accessibility for self-screening.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces optical fields as intermediaries between the patient and diagnostic analysis. Instead of directly sampling tissue, the system uses light to indirectly probe and characterize skin lesions, providing accurate diagnostic information through a non-invasive intermediary process that enhances patient accessibility.
4Difficulty of detecting and measuring
If broadband light sources are used to improve imaging depth, then detection capability is improved, but device complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges broadband light sources with coherent light sources in a single detection system. The broadband sources provide deep tissue penetration capability while coherent sources offer precise spatial resolution. By combining these complementary light sources with multiple detectors, the system achieves enhanced imaging depth without requiring separate specialized systems, thereby managing complexity through integration.
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
Enables early and accurate detection of skin cancers, reducing false positives and negatives, and providing a cost-effective, self-operable solution for routine screening.
Implementation Method 1
a light source produces light of varying wavelengths and a detector detects waves returned to the user end
Implementation Method 2
The optical system uses refraction and reflection of light waves to image skin tissue layers at different depths
Implementation Method 3
The optical system uses refraction and reflection of light waves to image skin tissue layers at different depths
Data Source
AI summary
This invention provides a non-invasive diagnosis system that is not only capable of producing high-resolution, three-dimensional images of abnormalities of tissue growth inside the body but, it can also detect the type of abnormalities and their location using multispectral imaging techniques. It is possible to provide a portable, non-invasive device that is handheld and with which a person may use to screen themselves for early detection of skin cancer without the need to visit a physician. As the present invention uses broadband sources and/or multiple coherent sources, secondary factors such as oxygen metabolism or blood volume associated with the cancer tissues could also be detected to provide further verification of the type. This invention would raise the accuracy of diagnosis and reduce the rate of false positives and false negatives.