In this section
We use light to develop advanced diagnostic tools, wearable sensors, and microscale robots for studying diseases and enabling minimally invasive treatments.
We use photonics to develop new technologies for medicine and to study the pathophysiology of disease. This includes new and improved diagnostic tools as well as microscale robotic devices for therapeutic applications. We use a variety of optical techniques for this purpose such as fluorescence, Raman and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, as well as microscopy and interferometry. We develop devices ranging from wearable sensors and fibre-optic probes for minimally invasive diagnostics through to microscale robots for cellular-scale manipulation and therapy.
Our research has a number of potential clinical applications including improved monitoring of clinical therapies and interventions (e.g. in inflammatory bowel disease and malnutrition), early diagnosis of infection, and even margin mapping in tumour resection surgery.
The devices we are developing can potentially provide less invasive and lower cost diagnostics. In turn, this may facilitate patient benefits including earlier diagnosis, earlier identification of relapse (e.g. in therapy response monitoring applications), more widespread deployment and more comfortable patient experiences (e.g. through use of less invasive probes and sensors).
Dr Belal Ahmad
Imperial College Research Fellow
Dr Qian Chen
Clinical Research Fellow
Dr Ahmed Ezzat
Research Postgraduate
Dr Nilanjan Mandal
Research Associate in Optical Sensing for LMICs
Dr Alexander J Thompson
Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Sensing
Mr Zeyu Wang
Research Postgraduate
@article{Fletcher:2022:gastro/goac042,
author = {Fletcher, E and Thompson, A and Ashrafian, H and Darzi, A},
doi = {gastro/goac042},
journal = {Gastroenterology Report},
pages = {1--13},
title = {The measurement and modification of hypoxia in colorectal cancer: overlooked but not forgotten},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/gastro/goac042},
volume = {10},
year = {2022}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - Tumour hypoxia is the inevitable consequence of a tumour’s rapid growth and disorganised, inefficient vasculature. The compensatory mechanisms employed by tumours, and indeed the absence of oxygen itself, hinder the ability of all treatment modalities. The clinical consequence is poorer overall survival, disease-free survival, and locoregional control. Recognising this, clinicians have been attenuating the effect of hypoxia, primarily with hypoxic modification or with hypoxia activated pro-drugs, and notable success has been demonstrated. However, in the case of colorectal cancer (CRC), there is a general paucity of knowledge and evidence surrounding the measurement and modification of hypoxia, and this is possibly due to the comparative inaccessibility of such tumours. We specifically review the role of hypoxia in CRC, and focus on: the current evidence for the existence of hypoxia in CRC, the majority of which originates from indirect positron emission topography (PET) imaging with hypoxia selective radiotracers; the evidence correlating CRC hypoxia with poorer oncological outcome, which is largely based on the measurement of Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF) in correlation with clinical outcome; the evidence of hypoxic modification in CRC, of which no direct evidence exists, but is reflected in a number of indirect markers; the prognostic and monitoring implications of accurate CRC hypoxia quantification and its potential in the field of precision oncology; and the present and future imaging tools and technologies being developed for the measurement of CRC hypoxia, including the use of blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) MRI imaging and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy.
AU - Fletcher,E
AU - Thompson,A
AU - Ashrafian,H
AU - Darzi,A
DO - gastro/goac042
EP - 13
PY - 2022///
SN - 2052-0034
SP - 1
TI - The measurement and modification of hypoxia in colorectal cancer: overlooked but not forgotten
T2 - Gastroenterology Report
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/gastro/goac042
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/98565
VL - 10
ER -
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