Next generation endoscopes

Lead Research Organisation: University of Bath
Department Name: Physics

Abstract

This fellowship will allow me to lead the exploitation of optical fibre technology in the healthcare industry. My work will use relatively cheap starting materials for optical fibres developed for the telecommunications industry and apply them to applications within healthcare. This will allow me to produce low-cost endoscopic devices capable of diagnosing and treating a number of conditions. I will work closely with clinical professionals and the healthcare industry throughout projects to define and tackle challenges with a genuine clinical pull. The project which will be undertaken is to produce an endoscopic device which will significantly change the care pathway for a patient which has a potentially cancerous lung nodule. Current care is to monitor the nodule with scans (perhaps over a number of years) and look for changes which indicate it is cancerous. This leads to continued radiation exposure from the scans and anxiety as the patient will be living their life knowing they possibly have lung cancer. My device will be able to go into the lungs and accurately diagnose the nodule and then ablate it destroying it instantly completely transforming the patient experience.

Planned Impact

Patient impact: This work will change the care pathway for patients presenting with lung nodules which could be possible early stage cancers. Current practice is to adopt a watch and wait approach to observe a change in volume or other sinister characteristics of a lung nodule before treatment. This approach leaves patients potentially walking around for years with possible lung cancers causing a great deal of anxiety and exposure to radiation from further monitoring scans. This tool will allow the diagnosis and treatment of a suspected lung nodule at first presentation significantly improving patient experience.

Economic impact: An estimated 2.7 million lung nodules are discovered on CT annually in the US alone, and double that number are found on a global basis. "With somewhere between eight and 20 million patients fitting the most recent guidelines for lung cancer screening, the treatment/care pathway costs of lung nodules are huge and the associated interventional pulmonology market valued at $5BN . This project will produce a tool capable of diagnosing and treating nodules and bring it through the regulatory pathway providing direct access to this market. IP created throughout the project will be patented and exploited either through commercial licencing or spin out companies.

Academic impact: The creation and demonstration of diagnostic and therapeutic endoscopic tools will generate a number of high quality journal publications and conference presentations.

Development of researchers: This project will train a new PDRA to work in a highly cross disciplinary environment. The PDRA will receive training and guidance in academic skills and the skills needed for maximising the industrial potential of interdisciplinary research.

Outreach: Over the course of this fellowship I will develop low-cost endoscopic demonstrator tools that can be used to at science fairs or teaching aids. These will demonstrae the principles of endoscopy show how interdisciplinary science can be used to solve challenges in healthcare educationg the general public and inspiring the next generation of interdisciplianry researchers.

Publications

10 25 50
 
Description New endoscopes have been developed and are being prepared for clinical study.
A company has been established to commecialise the technology.
Exploitation Route The startup company will build on the outcomes of this award.
Sectors Healthcare

 
Description Establishment of Prothea Technologies.
First Year Of Impact 2021
Sector Healthcare
Impact Types Economic

 
Description Eyes on target endoscope
Amount £90,000 (GBP)
Organisation Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 04/2021 
End 06/2022
 
Title Dataset for "Birefringent Anti-resonant Hollow-core Fiber" 
Description This dataset contains data supporting the results presented in the paper "Birefringent Anti-resonant Hollow-core Fiber" and the supplementary material. It includes the data used to plot each figure (in .xlsx format), together with simulated data obtained using COMSOL. Hollow-core fibres have demonstrated record performance in applications such as high-power pulse delivery, quantum computing, and sensing. However, their routine use is yet to become reality. A major obstacle is the ability to maintain the polarisation state of light over a broad range of wavelengths, while also ensuring single-mode guidance and attenuation that is low enough for practical applications that require only a few meters of fibre length (<1 dB/m). Here we simulated, fabricated and characterized a single-mode birefringent anti-resonant hollow-core fibre. The birefringence was achieved by introducing capillary tubes of different thicknesses, thereby creating reduced symmetry in the structure. The measured group birefringence is in good agreement with the calculated group birefringence from simulations across the fibre guidance band within the telecommunications C-band. At 1550 nm, we measured a group birefringence of 4.4E-5, which corresponds to a phase birefringence of 2.5E-5. The measured loss of the fibre was 0.46 dB/m at 1550 nm. The measured polarisation extinction ratio of the fibre at 1550 nm was 23.1 dB (25.7 dB) along the x-(y-) polarisation axis, relating to an h-parameter of 9.8E-4 (5.3E-4). 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2020 
Provided To Others? Yes  
URL https://researchdata.bath.ac.uk/id/eprint/767
 
Description BTG/Boston Scientific Partnership 
Organisation BTG
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The optical fibres and devices we are developing in next generation endoscopes are being further supported by BTG. BTG have now been taken over by Boston Scientific, the partnership is no longer ongoing,
Collaborator Contribution They are providing direction on relevant clinical use, technical know how and allowing the use of complementary technologies.
Impact This is a multi disciplinary collaboration. It includes physics and medicine.
Start Year 2018
 
Description BTG/Boston Scientific Partnership 
Organisation University of Edinburgh
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The optical fibres and devices we are developing in next generation endoscopes are being further supported by BTG. BTG have now been taken over by Boston Scientific, the partnership is no longer ongoing,
Collaborator Contribution They are providing direction on relevant clinical use, technical know how and allowing the use of complementary technologies.
Impact This is a multi disciplinary collaboration. It includes physics and medicine.
Start Year 2018
 
Title Panoptes 
Description Panoptes is an optical fibre based endoscopic imaging tool capable of microscopic imaging in the distal lung whilst simultaneously delivering or sampling flid from the imaging field of view. It will enter clinical study in 2022. 
Type Diagnostic Tool - Non-Imaging
Current Stage Of Development Early clinical assessment
Year Development Stage Completed 2020
Development Status Under active development/distribution
Impact Clinical study of the device has begun. 
URL https://www.tht.ac.uk/lungspy
 
Company Name Prothea Technologies 
Description Prothea Technologies develops a lung cancer biopsy device based on optical fibre research. 
Year Established 2021 
Impact None yet, fundrasing stage.
Website https://prothea.tech/