A Diagnostics & Imaging Week

SpectraScience (San Diego) said it has been awarded a Canadian patent for its optical biopsy system and methods for tissue diagnosis.

"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," said CEO Jim Hitchin.

The patent provides protection in the areas of tissue surveillance, characterization, diagnosis and treatment, SpectraScience said. It supports the company's fundamental technology of non-invasive, low-level laser diagnosis of pre-cancerous and cancerous tissue.

"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 said.

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

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