A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

SpectraScience (San Diego) said it has been awarded a European patent for its Optical Biopsy System for tissue diagnosis.

"This patent is important to the company's optical biopsy technology because it provides protection in the areas of tissue surveillance, characterization, diagnosis and treatment," said CEO Jim Hitchin. "It supports the company's fundamental technology of non-invasive, low-level laser diagnosis of pre-cancerous and cancerous tissue. This is another key patent in our expanding intellectual property portfolio that underscores our commitment at SpectraScience to develop better, more reliable cancer screening technologies."

SpectraScience said it holds about 60 patents worldwide that have been issued or are pending on its WavSTAT Optical Biopsy and LUMA Cervical Imaging Systems. These devices are used to diagnose tissue quickly to determine if it is normal, pre-cancerous, or cancerous, the company noted.

The WavSTAT and LUMA systems are FDA-approved for detecting pre-cancerous and cancerous tissue in the colon and cervix, respectively. An evaluation of the WavSTAT for detection of pre-cancers in the throat is being tested.

"Accurate imaging is critical to earlier and more effective identification of normal, pre-cancerous and/or cancerous tissue, and this invention provides methods of making our screening devices more useful to the physician and, more importantly, to the patient," Hitchin added.