Cooperative Research CRAFT contract IST1999 57448 A new

Co-operative Research (CRAFT) contract IST-1999 -57448 A new ICT-based diagnosis procedure and tool set for early detection of cervix cancer Eduardo Merino Mac. Donnell mermac@telefonica. net Lifelinger Consortium http: //www. lifelinger. net/menu/home. htm

The Social Problem • Cervical cancer is the third most common type of cancer in women: – Approximately 4 -5% of all women ageing 20 -65 will have some form of pre-cancer lesion of the cervix

The Social Problem • Cervical cancer is the third most common type of cancer in women: – Approximately 4 -5% of all women ageing 20 -65 will have some form of pre-cancer lesion of the cervix • Waiting is the hardest part. With the current diagnosis protocols women, sometimes, have to wait several weeks until getting a final diagnosis. .

The Social Problem • Cervical cancer is the third most common type of cancer in women: – Approximately 4 -5% of all women ageing 20 -65 will have some form of pre-cancer lesion of the cervix • Waiting is the hardest part. With the current diagnosis protocols women, sometimes, have to wait several weeks until getting a final diagnosis. . • Early diagnosis strongly increases the quality of life of women suffering the disease. – 5 -years survival rate of 85% when early detected. – In untreated or unresponsive cervical cancer death occurs 95% of the time within 2 years of the onset of symptoms

The Medical Problem • Pap smear – Sensitivity and specificity have been questioned – False negative rates up to 30%

The Medical Problem • Pap smear – Sensitivity and specificity have been questioned – False negative rates up to 30% • Colposcopy: – Extreme subtleties of distinction between pathologic and nonpathologic lesion patterns. – Need acetic acid and Lugol solution application. – Inter and intra-observer variations (less that 50% of lesions are agreed by all observers)

The Medical Problem • Pap smear – Sensitivity and specificity have been questioned – False negative rates up to 30% • Colposcopy: – Extreme subtleties of distinction between pathologic and nonpathologic lesion patterns. – Need acetic acid and Lugol solution application. – Inter and intra-observer variations (less that 50% of lesions are agreed by all observers) • Scarcity of trained medical personnel

So the need is for a diagnosis procedures: • Easy to apply • With good cost/benefits rates • Providing little or no discomfort to women • Having high sensitivity and specificity • With good acceptance by Doctors

Lifelinger objectives are: • The development of a new cervix cancer early diagnosis procedure based on image analysis • The workstation will act as an add-on to the standard doctors equipment. • To help less trained doctors in early diagnosing of cervix cancer with little or no modification of more experienced doctors.

In the tissues during the development of the disease we can see: – Change in haemoglobin concentration. – Increase of cells nuclei size. – Cells nuclei pleomorfism – Increase of the content of cells nuclei chromatin – Blood vessels modification as a kind of “optical signature” that Lifelinger analyse in order to sort tissues

In order to detect abnormal tissues relies on the combination of different technologies: – Image Analysis. – Data Fusion. – Knowledge Based Systems. – Data Bases. – Statistical Analysis. – Network operation. materialised in 3 different products:

Workstation Hardware: • PC o Lap-Top

Workstation Hardware: • PC or Lap-Top • CCD camera and light source

Workstation Hardware: • PC o Lap-Top • CCD camera and light source • Colposcope Software

A central Data Base • With increasing quantity of cases • Performing statistical analysis in order to improve detection parameters Workstation Hardware: • PC o Lap-Top • CCD camera and light source • Colposcope Software

A central Data Base • With increasing quantity of cases • Performing statistical analysis in order to improve detection parameters Workstation Hardware: • PC o Lap-Top • CCD camera and light source Network operation • Evolving, extensible software • Updated parameters • Additional Functionality • Sharing medical Expertise • Colposcope Software

The working procedure is as follows: • The doctor performs colposcopy in the usual way. • The cervix image is captured by means of the camera attached to the colposcope and displayed on the computer screen. • At any time during examination, the doctor can analyse the captured image. • The result of analysis is shown on the computer screen as a colour-coded overlay over the cervix image highlighting areas of pathologically significant tissues.

Adding Lifelinger to current colposcopy procedure will allow: • Improve early diagnosis rates. • Reduce waiting time to get the diagnosis. • Reduce prophylactics costs.

Lifelinger Imagination is more important than knowledge Albert Einstein