A Novel Cell Morphology Analyzer Application in Head and Neck Cancer

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Pathology
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Accurate diagnosis of head and neck cancer and tumor margins is crucial.
• The DiveScope is a novel endomicroscope for rapid imaging of live tissues and cells.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the DiveScope's accuracy in diagnosing head and neck cancer malignancy.
• To assess the DiveScope's effectiveness in determining tumor resection margin status.
• To compare DiveScope results with frozen section pathology for future clinical trials.

Main Methods:

• Ex vivo staining of head and neck cancer and resection margin samples.
• Analysis of stained samples using the DiveScope cell morphology analyzer.
• Double-blind evaluation of DiveScope images by experienced pathologists.

Main Results:

• Clear visualization of cell morphology, nuclei, karyoplasmic ratio, and nucleoli.
• High positive likelihood ratio (PLR) and low negative likelihood ratio (NLR) for cancer diagnosis.
• Excellent PLR and zero NLR for determining tumor resection margin status.

Conclusions:

• The DiveScope demonstrates high accuracy for head and neck cancer diagnosis and margin assessment.
• DiveScope results show strong concordance with intraoperative frozen section pathology.
• This study provides a foundation for the clinical application of DiveScope in head and neck pathology.