A method for evaluating patients’ response to a first-in-class of chemotherapy either alone or with a combination of chemo and radiation has been developed by a team of cardiologists, radiologists and surgical oncologists from the Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.
The scientists hope their system would have applications in such a small number of cancer patients who are end-stage or who have received chemotherapy and are not responding to standard of care.
This approach involves training a patient to submit a push-button form indicating the number of minutes they have been alive for a set period at a time. Alternatively, it can also use automated techniques to capture data. Both are common and inexpensive options.
Other teams around the world are trying to develop similar films that can record tumor response to a first-in-class of chemotherapy.
In the study, Dr. Robert Lumminger, surgical oncologist and director at the Montefiore Medical Center, and colleagues, under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Biegel, of New York University, demonstrate a new camera-assisted administration of a tool that will allow them to capture data for 45 minutes from an endoscopic tumor biopsy performed in less than 5 minutes, using a miniature robotic system.
The system is based on use of PRODUDE, a multi-channel brain activity analysis system developed by MEMSC and HealthNet, a collaboration among governments, insurance companies and innovation firms working to develop a portable device for remote monitoring of suspected brain tumors who are demyelinating and/or difficult to treat.
This study leverages a PRODUDE microchip system in which tumors can be represented by a single chip with enough computing power to work with a real-world brain tumor or tissue in a living patient, with no increase in charge costs.
The imaging patient drives the camera and has to set the precise time window, which is then transmitted wirelessly to a smartphone application.