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
Walmart, Costco refusing to sign grocery code of conduct 'untenable': industry minister
Industry Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says it's 'untenable' for 'smaller players' like Walmart and Costco to delay signing on to the government- and industry-led grocery code of conduct, now that industry giant Loblaw has agreed to do so.
Robbers made off with 'several million euros' of jewels in armed heist at Harry Winston store in Paris
Armed robbers who used a motorbike as a battering ram made off with 'several million euros' worth of valuables in a heist of the luxury Paris boutique of self-declared 'Jeweler to the Stars' Harry Winston, the French prosecutor’s office overseeing the police probe said.
BREAKING NEWS Serious boat crash kills 3, injures 5 on the Buck Bay area of Bobs Lake: OPP
Three people were killed and five others were injured Saturday night following a boat crash on the Buck Bay area of Bobs Lake, north of Kingston, Ont., the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) said.
The secret Italian lakes that most tourists don't know about
Italy has dozens of secret smaller lakes that boast superb scenery, unknown to mass tourism, where locals get together on day trips and enjoy picnics.
Helicopter carrying Iran's president suffers a 'hard landing,' state TV says without further details
A helicopter carrying Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi suffered a 'hard landing' on Sunday, Iranian state media reported, without immediately elaborating.
Signs of Alzheimer’s were everywhere. Then his brain improved
Blood biomarkers of telltale signs of early Alzheimer’s disease in the brain of his patient, 55-year-old entrepreneur Simon Nicholls, had all but disappeared in a mere 14 months.
Woman killed in Montreal's Saint-Michel district: ex-husband arrested
Less than 24 hours after Montreal's 12th homicide investigation began, Montreal police confirmed that a 55-year-old woman's death in St. Michel is the island's 13th homicide.
Canadian immigration asks medical worker fleeing Gaza if he treated Hamas fighters
Lawyers are questioning Canada’s approach to screening visa applications for people in Gaza with extended family in Canada after one applicant, a medical worker, was asked whether he had treated members of Hamas.
Ottawa driver who appeared to be racing another vehicle on Highway 416 facing charges
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) says an Ottawa driver is facing charges after being caught going 187 km/h on Highway 416.