Study supports tissue fluorescence visualization technology for oral cancer detection

Tissue fluorescence visualization technology developer LED Medical Diagnostics (Burnaby, BC, Canada) is part of a recent clinical study documenting the ability of the company's VELscope Vx Enhanced Oral Assessment adjunctive technology to detect cancerous and precancerous lesions that are missed by conventional exams.

Related: LED Medical Diagnostics looks to apply fluorescence visualization technology to dermatology

The study involved 85 male and female patients considered to be at risk for oral cancer due to history of smoking, alcohol use, or head and neck cancer. All patients were screened for oral cancer and precancer in two ways: a conventional clinical examination, consisting of palpation of the face and neck to check for lumps and a naked eye inspection of the oral cavity to look for lesions; and an examination of the oral cavity using the company's VELscope Vx advanced oral screening system, which uses patented tissue fluorescence visualization technology to help detect abnormal oral tissue.

The conventional and VELscope Vx exams detected 13 lesions that were biopsy-confirmed to be either malignant or pre-malignant. Importantly, five of these lesions were missed by the conventional exam but detected by the VELscope Vx exam. Adding the VELscope Vx exam to the screening process increased the number of cancerous or precancerous lesions detected by 62.5%.

For more information on the study, please visit http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22762697.

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