Lasers Aid in Cancer Treatment and Monitor Drug Delivery in Real Time

Oct 27, 2022 Real-time treatment monitoring enables adjusting treatment for each patient separately, in line with the trend for personalized medicine. Medical laser systems with multiwavelength illumination and sensor capabilities can measure spectrally resolved optical data from the tumor tissue, for example. One use case for such technology includes activation and monitoring of a novel photoimmunotherapeutic drug delivery system (DDS) for ovarian cancer. A multiwavelength medical laser system was used to activate the DDS at the tumor site, to monitor the chemotherapeutic drug release, and to induce synergistic photodynamic and immunotherapeutic effects. Medical lasers may also be cloud-connected, enabling real-time data analytics, which helps to deliver better treatment outcomes to patients. Ylöniemi discusses how one use case for such a setup is using optical monitoring in glioblastoma, where patients receive photoimmunotherapy and the treatment is tailored based on the cloud data.
About the presenter
Zoe Ylöniemi works as a product manager at Modulight Corp. and is responsible for biomedical laser systems. She holds a M.Sc. in biomedical technology and has worked with medical lasers for 5-plus years. During her studies, she spent time at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center as a visiting research scholar studying chemophototherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma. At Modulight, Ylöniemi has been involved in introducing a novel glioblastoma laser therapy technology to European clinics and transforming an ophthalmic laser therapy to a bladder cancer environment for treating non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer.