Medical Sensors Design Conference 2018

Successful treatment of early stage cancer depends on the ability to resect both gross and microscopic disease, yet no method exists to identify residual cancer cells intraoperatively. This is particularly problematic in breast cancer, where microscopic residual disease can double the rate of cancer returning, from 15% to 30% over 15 years, affecting a striking 37,500 women annually. Currently, residual disease can only be identified by examining excised tumor under a microscope, visualizing tumor cells stained with specific tumor markers. This microscopic evaluation restricts identification of tumor cells to the post-operative setting. Unfortunately, traditional optics cannot be scaled to the sub-centimeter size necessary to fit into the cavity and be readily manipulated over the entire surface area. To solve this problem, we developed an imaging strategy that forgoes external optical elements for focusing light and instead uses angle-selective gratings patterned in the metal interconnect of a standard CMOS process.