Dr. Reiser on Mole vs. Melanoma, Biophotonics Seminar

Professor Karen Reiser, M.D.
Department of Neurological Surgery
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS

The world-wide increase in the incidence of skin cancer has generated interest in development of noninvasive skin imaging methods capable of discriminating between benign and malignant skin lesions. We have recently conducted pilot studies assessing the feasibility of using  polarization-modulated second harmonic generation (PM-SHG) imaging as a clinical diagnostic tool for identifying malignant lesions in skin. In a collaborative project with the Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital, we have performed pilot studies in which PM-SHG scans were correlated with histopathological assessment of benign and malignant skin lesions in dogs and cats. Malignant skin lesions included solar-induced squamous cell carcinoma, fibrosarcoma, mastocytoma, and melanoma. Benign skin lesions included solar elastosis and solar keratosis. Scan data were analyzed using novel signal processing algorithms. These data comprise the sample’s optical signature: a defined set of quantitative parameters. We observed that the optical signatures of malignant lesions share several common features that do not overlap with the optical signatures of benign lesions.or of normal tissue. PM-SHG imaging has several advantages as compared with other noninvasive imaging methods.

Stream this seminar live over the web.  If prompted for a user name and password, enter the user name "guest" and leave the password blank.