Michelson Diagnostics presents advantages of OCT laser imaging for
cancer diagnostics at RSM innovation summit
2 December 2009
Jon Holmes, CEO of UK medical imaging firm Michelson Diagnostics
Ltd (MDL), presented to an audience of around 300 Royal Society
of Medicine Fellows and Members how MDL’s revolutionary
new laser-based medical imaging technology could radically improve
cancer diagnostics.
Jon Holmes was speaking at RSM's first ‘Innovation Summit’ along with
an impressive line-up of other world-leading medical innovators, which
included Professor Laurent Lantieri, the pioneering face transplant
surgeon, and Dr Okarma, CEO of Geron, the US company leading the
treatment of spinal cord injury with stem cell therapies.
The new medical imaging technology, known as Multi-Beam Optical
Coherence Tomography, uses lasers to scan surface tissue in real time,
using a hand-held probe, to produce an image of the internal tissue
microstructure at far higher resolution than is possible with
ultrasound, CT or MRI scanners. This image could be used by clinicians
to identify a cancer, or to decide how far the cancer has spread below
the surface, enabling more accurate surgery with reduced rates of
recurrence.
In his talk, Mr Holmes explained that a prime application could be
skin cancer: a very high proportion of skin biopsies (in which tissue is
surgically removed for laboratory analysis) show no sign of cancer —so
the painful biopsy could have been avoided. He also explained that skin
cancers often recur due to the inability of surgeons to tell exactly how
far a tumour has spread below the surface.

VivoSight OCT scanner with hand-held probe
being used to
investigate sub-surface skin tissue
Multi-Beam OCT could tackle these problems with a quick, non-invasive
scan. A biopsy would only be needed if the scan revealed signs of
cancer. Clearly, this has the potential to save the NHS £millions in
reducing histopathology costs and treatment of recurring cancers, as
well as cutting waiting times for the laboratory results, and saving
patients from the pain of biopsies in many cases.
Mr Holmes went on to explain to the RSM audience that his company,
Michelson Diagnostics Ltd, has already launched a product, named ‘VivoSight’,
and has started multi-centre trials in the UK and
Germany, and he is very encouraged by the initial feedback.
The President of the Royal Society of Medicine, Professor Robin
Williamson, said. "The Royal Society of Medicine has long been a place
where pioneers in the medical sciences have come to demonstrate new
techniques and new technologies in their respective fields. We are both
proud and excited to be continuing this tradition with the Innovations
Summit and look forward to making it an annual event."
The Innovations Summit was sponsored by the NHS Innovations Centre,
which works to bring innovative healthcare to the patient, in
partnership with the Department of Health, industry, academia and the
NHS.