How lasers and AI could help detect cancerous tissue in minutes
A cancer detecting system built from scratch at the University of Waterloo (UW) is nearing completion and could be on the market within two years.
An engineering team began work on the Photon Absorption Remote Sensing (PARS) system in 2017. It aims to speed up the process of detecting cancerous tissue in patients which, in turn, could speed up treatment.
“With one look, we can get all the answers,” Parsin Haji Reza, a professor and the project’s lead researcher at UW said.
It uses lasers to read a tissue sample, generate data and then feed that data to an AI system.
“The AI basically translates this data – this multi-dimensional data – into information and into images that doctors, pathologists and clinicians can read,” Reza said, adding it should take less than half an hour in total.
He said the traditional biopsy process involves taking a piece of tissue, dividing it, dyeing the sections and then analyzing them under a microscope to look for cancer markers.
An engineering team at UW began work on the Photon Absorption Remote Sensing (PARS) system in 2017. (CTV News/Stefanie Davis)
It sometimes takes weeks or months for patients to get their results back. The PARS system removes some of those steps.
“[It allows] us to see those same features that are being recovered with chemical staining just by looking at the response to the absorption of light,” PHD candidate and student lead Ben Ecclestone said.
Reza said speeding up the process is important to patients, clinicians and the health care system because of the money, time and stress caused by the current model.
The PARS system has already been used in clinical trials and proved to be highly accurate. The goal is for a prototype to be tested in the field later this year, and then go to market.
“We’d like to deploy this into clinical settings where we could actually start testing this in a real world scenario rather than a lab environment that we’re working in now,” Ecclestone said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
![](https://www.ctvnews.ca/polopoly_fs/1.6973211.1721679351!/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_800/image.jpg)
2 Albertans accused of threatening to kill Trudeau, Freeland, Singh
Men from Edmonton and Calgary are accused of threatening to kill some of Canada's top government leaders.
Kamala Harris endorsement excites Democrats, but what could it mean for Canada?
U.S. President Joe Biden's endorsement of Vice-President Kamala Harris as his possible replacement stirred excitement among Democrats, but one analyst has concerns about what a potential Harris presidency would mean for Canada.
Four suicides in New Zealand linked to Ontario's Kenneth Law
New Zealand's coroner has ruled that four of its citizens died after ordering products from an Ontario man who is facing murder charges for selling poisonous substances.
These are the four leading vice-presidential picks for Kamala Harris' campaign
No one knows the importance of selecting the right running mate better than Vice President Kamala Harris.
Here's why cyber experts say Canada failed in its response to the CrowdStrike outage
Millions of computers went offline around the world on Friday after a faulty CrowdStrike software update impacted airlines, hospitals, banks and broadcasters. Cyber experts say Canada failed in its response compared to other countries, showing it's vulnerable and ill-prepared for future attacks.
Toronto woman charged with voyeurism after taking 'intimate' photos during massage: police
A Toronto woman who allegedly took 'intimate' photos of an individual who was getting a massage has been charged with voyeurism, police say.
IN PICTURES Here's what Calgary's new event centre will look like
The name of Calgary’s new event centre was unveiled on Monday. The arena will be called Scotia Place.
U.S. drops planned regulations for dogs crossing border from rabies-free countries
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control will not require onerous forms for dog owners crossing the border from Canada this summer.
Police identify body of man who washed ashore on Nova Scotia's Sable Island
Nova Scotia RCMP has identified one of the bodies found on Sable Island earlier this month.