Microfabricated Optical Sensor Probe for the Detection of Esophageal Cancer

Cancer is a class of diseases in which a group of cells grow uncontrollably, destroy surrounding tissue and eventually spread to other parts of the body, often leading to death. According to the American Cancer Society cancer causes accounts for 13% of all deaths. Much of the time cancer can be treated if diagnosed early. Considerable study is currently being undertaken to investigate tissue properties and their use in detecting cancer at an early stage through non invasive and non surgical methods. Oblique Incidence Diffuse Reflectance Spectrometry (OIDRS) is one such method. This thesis reports the design, fabrication and testing of a new miniaturized optical sensor probe with "side viewing" capability for oblique incidence diffuse reflectance spectrometry. The sensor probe consists of a lithographically patterned polymer waveguides chip and three micromachined positioning substrates and source/collection fibers to achieve 45 degree light incidence and collection of spatially resolved diffuse reflectance. The probe was tested at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. The test results show that the probe is capable of collecting data which can be analyzed to select image features to differentiate the cancerous tissue from non cancerous tissue. Using these probes, diffuse reflectance of human esophageal surface has been successfully measured for differentiation of cancerous tissues from normal ones.