Scientists have developed a lightweight, handheld camera that images the skin region in two seconds to recognise early stages of cancer that are invisible to the naked eye.
The ultra-precision hyperspectral camera for the detection of skin cancers and their precursors has been developed by VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland.
In the pilot study, the camera was used to detect the skin areas with field cancerisation ie areas of multiple skin cancer precursors, actinic keratoses, for early treatment of the affected areas.
The camera, invented by Heikki Saari, Principal Scientist at VTT, was also able to detect the borders of poorly delineated skin tumours, such as lentigo malignas, which are difficult to detect by the naked eye.
The pilot project was done in collaboration with the University of Jyvaskyla, the Paijat-Hame Central Hospital and the Skin and Allergy Hospital of Helsinki University Central Hospital.
The preliminary results are promising, researchers said.
The hyperspectral camera captures images in up to 70 narrow wavelengths, whereas a regular camera uses only three.
The spectral image generated is a three-dimensional cube built of numerous layers of greyscale images, each of which has been taken within a limited wavelength range.
Different biological tissues can be identified by their reflected spectra in hyperspectral images, researchers said.
Computational methods are used to interpret these images, in order to determine the position and size of the tumour to be treated.
Patents have been granted for the hyperspectral camera in the US and in Finland.
