About This Webinar
For many surgical oncology procedures, particularly those where the surgeon attempts to preserve as much normal tissue as possible, there are exceedingly high positive margin rates, meaning that tumor cells have been left behind in the patient. Technologically, it remains a challenge for how one can scan and image large areas of tissue during surgery at the microscopic sub-cellular scale needed to make a histopathological diagnosis, all in real-time, to ensure that all tumor tissue and cells have been removed. Boppart and his team are developing a multi-modal, multi-scale approach that uses OCT imaging of the large-area tumor cavity with switchable high-resolution sub-cellular nonlinear optical imaging (NLOI) for generating real-time digital histopathology images.
The technology captures optical biopsies entirely label-free, thereby obviating the need for administering contrast agents. Previously published studies by Boppart’s team have already demonstrated intraoperative OCT of the in vivo tumor resection bed in humans and intraoperative NLOI of resected tumor tissues. AI algorithms have been developed to screen incoming OCT images to alert the surgeon to suspicious areas, as well as to analyze NLOI images to detect and diagnose for real-time classification and intraoperative decision-making, without having to send tissues to a pathologist.
*** This presentation premiered during the
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About the presenter
Stephen Boppart, M.D., Ph.D., is professor and Grainger Distinguished Chair in Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). His Biophotonics Imaging Laboratory is focused on developing novel optical biomedical diagnostic and imaging technologies and translating them into clinical applications. Boppart received his doctorate in medical and electrical engineering from MIT, his Doctor of Medicine degree from Harvard Medical School, and specialty training in internal medicine. He has published over 450 invited and contributed publications and over 50 patents related to optical biomedical imaging technology.
Boppart has co-founded four startup companies, is a fellow of AAAS, IEEE, Optica, SPIE, AIMBE, IAMBE, and BMES, and was recently elected to the National Academy of Inventors. He has been a strong advocate for the integration of engineering and medicine to advance human health and our health care systems, and has been involved in envisioning, establishing, and developing UIUC’s new engineering-based Carle Illinois College of Medicine. Boppart is currently serving as interim director of the Interdisciplinary Health Sciences Institute at UIUC and leading a campus charge to envision the future of technology-inspired innovations in health.