The LUCA device: a multi-modal platform combining diffuse optics and ultrasound imaging for thyroid cancer screening

Abstract

We present the LUCA device, a multi-modal platform combining eight-wavelength near infrared time resolved spectroscopy, sixteen-channel diffuse correlation spectroscopy and a clinical ultrasound in a single device. By simultaneously measuring the tissue hemodynamics and performing ultrasound imaging, this platform aims to tackle the low specificity and sensitivity of the current thyroid cancer diagnosis techniques, improving the screening of thyroid nodules. Here, we show a detailed description of the device, components and modules. Furthermore, we show the device tests performed through well established protocols for phantom validation, and the performance assessment for in vivo. The characterization tests demonstrate that LUCA device is capable of performing high quality measurements, with a precision in determining in vivo tissue optical and dynamic properties of better than 3%, and a reproducibility of better than 10% after ultrasound-guided probe repositioning, even with low photon count-rates, making it suitable for a wide variety of clinical applications.

In vivo characterization of the optical and hemodynamic properties of the human sternocleidomastoid muscle through ultrasound-guided hybrid near-infrared spectroscopies

“…A picture of the device, during the measurement procedure, is reported in figure 1(a). The device description and its validation in laboratory and clinical settings have been previously reported in detail in Cortese et al (2021a).…”

“…The different technologies are integrated in a single device through a dedicated control module (custom product, HemoPhotonics S.L., Spain) while the simultaneous acquisition of TD-NIRS, DCS and US signals are allowed by a multi-modal optical/US probe (Cortese et al 2021a). This probe (custom product, Vermon SA, France), reported in figure 1 (b), includes an ultrasound transducer (10.6 MHz center frequency) and source and detector fibers for TD-NIRS and DCS.…”

“…The combination of DCS and NIRS technology such as TD-NIRS, CW-NIRS or frequency domain NIRS (FD-NIRS), allows to retrieve complementary information about tissue hemodynamics, composition and structure, and also, to obtain information about tissue oxygen metabolism, that is, the metabolic rate of oxygen extraction (MRO 2 ) relating the effective oxygen delivery and consumption by the local tissue (Durduran et al 2010, Durduran and. During the recent years, the combination of these complementary techniques has been used successfully in several clinical and preclinical studies involving a wide range of situations, from cancer diagnosis and therapy follow-up, to brain monitoring (Cheung et al 2001, Culver et al 2003, Durduran et al 2004 imaging with TD-NIRS and DCS (Cortese et al 2021a) to characterize the SCM of a group of healthy subjects and thyroid nodule patients. This multi-modal approach allowed a more reliable, precise and accurate determination of the optical and hemodynamic properties of such muscle, providing simultaneous information about tissue anatomy, oxygenation, perfusion and oxygen metabolism, and enabling also improved precision of the optical measurement due to US guidance.…”

Optical diagnostic imaging and therapy for thyroid cancer

“…Meanwhile, research [ 27 ] has constructed magnetic resonance imaging/fluorescence lifetime dual-modality imaging nanoprobes-targeting two peptides (peptide1 and peptide7) of Galectin-1 conjugated with ultra-small superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (USPIO) or a NIR dye (CF770), embodying the high specificity and sensitivity for the PTC detection of 75% and 100%, respectively. In addition, one study [ 28 ] created a multimodal imaging platform called LUCA that combines clinical ultrasound, 16-channel diffuse correlation spectroscopy, and eight-wavelength near-infrared time-resolved spectroscopy in a single device to increase the specificity and sensitivity of TC diagnosis.…”

Cerebral time-domain near-infrared spectroscopy for clinical use

“…The numerous capacities of TD-NIRS make it a good candidate for clinical applications. Various applications were explored with great success like the monitoring of breast [2] or thyroid [3] tissues for oncological applications and, the most widespread one, brain monitoring. We will review bellow a few examples highlighting the strength of the use of TD-NIRS in a clinical context for brain monitoring.…”