A Clinical Study to Assess Diffuse Reflectance Spectroscopy with an Auto-Calibrated, Pressure-Sensing Optical Probe in Head and Neck Cancer

Q: What clinical problem does the study address for diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS)?

Clinical acceptance is limited because uncontrolled pressure at the probe–tissue interface affects reproducibility and leads to operator-dependent results.

Q: How was the pressure-sensing, auto-calibrated DRS system evaluated in the study?

Nineteen HNSCC patients underwent surgical biopsy procedures, with repeated measurements taken from one tumor site and one distant normal location during surgery.

Q: What were the key findings when comparing tumor tissue to normal tissue?

Cancerous tissues showed significantly lower hemoglobin saturation than normal controls, and repeated measurements exhibited minimal time-related changes after probe placement.

Sep 24, 2026

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Diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) quantifies optical and physiological tissue properties including hemoglobin oxygen saturation and vascularity. Despite clinical use for separating cancerous and normal tissue, adoption is constrained by uncontrolled probe–tissue interface pressure, which reduces reproducibility and creates operator-dependent variation. This clinical study evaluated and validated a pressure-sensing, auto-calibrated DRS in patients with suspected head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), demonstrating significantly lower hemoglobin saturation in cancer versus normal tissues.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages10

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Keywords

1. Introduction

Article A Clinical Study to Assess Diffuse Reﬂectance Spectroscopy with an Auto-Calibrated, Pressure-Sensing Optical Probe in Head and Neck Cancer Ashlyn G. Rickard 1, Husam Mikati 1, Antoine Mansourati 1, Daniel Stevenson 2, Marlee Krieger 2,3, Daniel Rocke 4, Ramon Esclamado 4, Mark W. Dewhirst 1, Nirmala Ramanujam 2,3, Walter T. Lee 4 and Gregory M. Palmer 1,2, * Citation: Rickard, A.G.; Mikati, H.; Mansourati, A.; Stevenson, D.; Krieger, M.; Rocke, D.; Esclamado, R.; Dewhirst, M.W.; Ramanujam, N.; Lee, W.T.; et al. A Clinical Study to Assess Diffuse Reﬂectance Spectroscopy with an Auto-Calibrated, Pressure-Sensing Optical Probe in Head and Neck Cancer. Curr. Oncol. 2023, 30, 2751–2760. [https://](https://)[ ](https://)[doi.org/10.3390/curroncol30030208](doi.org/10.3390/curroncol30030208) Received: 20 December 2022 Revised: 3 February 2023 Accepted: 21 February 2023 Published: 24 February 2023 Copyright: © 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license ([https://](https://)[ ](https://)[creativecommons.org/licenses/by/](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[ ](creativecommons.org/licenses/by/)[4.0/](4.0/)) . 1 Department of Radiation Oncology, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3455, Durham, NC 27710, USA 2 Zenalux Biomedical, Inc., Durham, NC 27705, USA 3 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3455, Durham, NC 27710, USA 4 Department of Head and Neck Surgery & Communications Sciences, Duke University Medical Center, Box 3455, Durham, NC 27710, USA * Correspondence: [greg.palmer@duke.edu](greg.palmer@duke.edu); Tel.: +1-(919)613-5053 Abstract: Diffuse reﬂectance spectroscopy (DRS) is a powerful tool for quantifying optical and physiological tissue properties such as hemoglobin oxygen saturation and vascularity. DRS is increasingly used clinically for distinguishing cancerous lesions from normal tissue. However, its widespread clinical acceptance is still limited due to uncontrolled probe–tissue interface pressure that inﬂuences reproducibility and introduces operator-dependent results. In this clinical study, we assessed and validated a pressure-sensing and automatic self-calibration DRS in patients with suspected head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The clinical study enrolled nineteen patients undergoing HNSCC surgical biopsy procedures. Patients consented to evaluation of this improved DRS system during surgery. For each patient, we obtained 10 repeated measurements on one tumor site and one distant normal location. Using a Monte Carlo-based model, we extracted the hemoglobin saturation data along with total hemoglobin content and scattering properties. A total of twelve cancer tissue samples from HNSCC patients and fourteen normal tissues were analyzed. A linear mixed effects model tested for signiﬁcance between repeated measurements and compared tumor versus normal tissue. These results demonstrate that cancerous tissues have a signiﬁcantly lower hemoglobin saturation compared to normal controls (p < 0.001), which may be reﬂective of tumor hypoxia. In addition, there were minimal changes over time upon probe placement and repeated measurement, indicating that the pressure-induced changes were minimal and repeated measurements did not differ signiﬁcantly from the initial value. This study demonstrates the feasibility of conducting optical spectroscopy measurements on intact lesions prior to removal during HNSCC procedures, and established that this probe provides diagnostically-relevant physiologic information that may impact further treatment. Keywords: diffuse optical spectroscopy; head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; diffuse reﬂectance spectroscopy; optical biopsy; optical sensing 1. Introduction There is a signiﬁcant, unmet clinical need associated with screening, diagnosis and treatment of head

FAQs

What clinical problem does the study address for diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS)?

Clinical acceptance is limited because uncontrolled pressure at the probe–tissue interface affects reproducibility and leads to operator-dependent results.

How was the pressure-sensing, auto-calibrated DRS system evaluated in the study?

Nineteen HNSCC patients underwent surgical biopsy procedures, with repeated measurements taken from one tumor site and one distant normal location during surgery.

What were the key findings when comparing tumor tissue to normal tissue?

Cancerous tissues showed significantly lower hemoglobin saturation than normal controls, and repeated measurements exhibited minimal time-related changes after probe placement.

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by Finn