This press release contains dated information and should be used for background only.
Technology originally designed for use in the U.S. government’s Strategic Defense Initiative is now an important tool in the battle against cancer.
The University of Kansas Hospital is the first medical facility in the region employing the use of an Automated Cellular Imaging System (ACIS). The ACIS accurately analyzes cancerous tissue and helps physicians predict how or if a tumor will spread.
Many cancer tests examine colors produced by chemical stains applied to cells or tissue placed on a glass microscope slide for analysis. Determining how many cells are stained with the color and the intensity of the color is frequently how pathologists determine if the cells are normal or abnormal.
The new system combines automated microscopy and computerized image processing to detect, count and classify cells. All cancer tumors are not the same. By examining certain biomarkers, doctors can determine the extent and type of the cancer cells and treatment can by tailored to the specific type of tumor.
According to O. Tawfik, M.D., Ph.D., director of the surgical pathology and image analysis laboratory, the ACIS system can detect one target cell in 100 million normal cells.
Tawfik adds that the combination of this innovative tool and our pathologists’ skilled interpretation provides oncologists and patients the precise results for effective clinical decision making.
Cancer diagnosis
Although heralded as a tool in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, Tawfik said the technology would aid in the diagnosis of most other cancers as well.
“There is a dramatic difference in what we can do now,” Tawfik said. “We’re not just diagnosing, we’re able to predict a specific tumor’s behavior and thus we help customize the most promising treatment for each patient.”
NASA originally developed the technology utilized by the ACIS as part of the U.S. Strategic Defense Initiative. It was intended to reliably distinguish active warheads from decoys and is now patented and adapted to detect, count and classify human cells based on color, shape and size.