The pulsed Potassium-Titanyl-Phosphate laser being used at MGH is an angiolytic laser that uses wavelengths of laser light to specifically target diseased cells without damaging healthy vocal cord tissue.

A team led by Dr Steven Zeitels of the MGH Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation began applying pulsed lasers to early vocal cord cancers more than five years ago. Similar technology was originally applied to the removal of port-wine stains by dermatologist R. Rox Anderson, MD, the director of the MGH Wellman Center of Photomedicine, who collaborated closely with Dr Zeitels.

The first 22 patients who’ve received MGH’s pulsed laser treatments for vocal cord cancer are cancer-free up to 5 years after treatment without surgical removal of vocal cord tissue or loss of voice quality, although some have required multiple laser treatments. Dr Zeitels estimates that 90 percent of early vocal cord cancer patients would be candidates for pulsed laser treatment. As he said about the technology,

“It has greatly enhanced the precision by which we can perform many procedures for chronic laryngeal diseases, both in the operating room, accompanied by the surgical microscope, and in the office.”

Steven M. Zeitels, MD, FACS
Director, Center for Laryngeal Surgery and Voice Rehabilitation, MGH

Dr Zeitels gained previous notoriety while treating vocal conditions in singers Steven Tyler of the band Aerosmith and Julie Andrews of the film The Sound of Music.

MGH reported results from their research at the annual meeting of the American Broncho-Esophagological Association and their findings are scheduled for publication in a supplemental edition of the Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology.

Source: EurekAlert.org

Related Links: HealthDay News; The New York Times

Technorati Tags: laryngeal cancer; head and neck cancer; throat cancer; pulsed-KTP; cordectomy

Thanks to increased awareness and better diagnostic tools, rates for many cancers in the United States have recently begun to drop, yet the incidence of esophageal cancer has more than tripled in this country over the last 30 years.

Experts point out that many of these cancers are avoidable since noticeable changes usually occur in the digestive tract lining before esophageal cancer develops. This precancerous condition is treatable if detected early but, existing screening methods used to find these early warning signs are expensive so it often goes untreated until the damaged cells develop into cancer and begin to spread.

To help promote earlier detection, the University of Washington team — which consisted of gastroenterologists, engineers, and computer scientists — developed a new pill-sized fiber optic endoscope on a tether.

Traditional endoscopes travel into the colon or throat on a flexible cord measuring 9mm, but UW’s tether cord measures 1.4 mm so patients can easily swallow the devise without needing anesthesia.

According to UW, other groups are developing wireless encapsulated cameras for esophageal cancer screening, but the wireless feature means there’s no control over the pill once it’s been swallowed. UW’s says its tethered version allows doctors to move the camera up or down so they can study the digestive tract more thoroughly.

UW’s device produces 15 two-dimensional color pictures per second at a resolution exceeding 100 microns per inch. While that resolution is not as high as traditional endoscopes offer, it does keep the camera’s size and cost small, making screening accessible to more patients. As the study’s lead author and the camera’s first human volunteer said,

“The procedure is so easy I could imagine it being done in a shopping mall.”

Eric Seibel, PhD
Research Associate Professor, Mechanical Engineering
University of Washington

Results on the camera’s first use in a human are scheduled to be published in an upcoming issue of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering.

Source: UWnews.org

Related Links: United Press International; ScienceDaily; Telegraph.co.uk

Related Video: Barrett’s Esophagus from the Medical University of South Carolina

Technorati Tags: medical devices; gastrointestinal cancers; University of Washington College of Engineering; Seattle, WA; GERD; acid reflux disease