3-D imaging platform shown to spot lung cancer in sputum

Recent clinical data show that the automated 3-D cell imaging platform Cell-CT from VisionGate Inc. of Phoenix detects lung cancer in sputum samples with high sensitivity and specificity. The pilot study was presented at the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer’s 15th World Conference on Lung Cancer. Cell-CT uses optical projection tomography to generate high-resolution 3-D signatures from intact cells. Initially, the method is intended for adjunctive use with x-ray CT screening to address the high rate of false-positive results associated with CT screening alone.

Courtesy of VisionGate Inc.

The pilot study analyzed sputum samples from patients with confirmed lung cancer and from healthy individuals. The results show that VisionGate’s Cell-CT platform and LuCED sputum test accurately detected the presence or absence of lung cancer cells in patient sputum from a spontaneous cough. In the 53 individuals studied to date, LuCED and the Cell-CT achieved a sensitivity of more than 95 percent and specificity of 99.8 percent. This is far greater accuracy than has been demonstrated with any other lung cancer screening test.