The multi-sensing 'Medical Integrated Photonic Ultrasound Transducer' (MED-IPUT) project will develop a high-resolution, high-quality, recyclable medical imaging system based on a disruptive integrated photonic ultrasound transducer concept. We envisioned a 100x increase in sensitivity compared to conventional US. The IPUT-based sensing system, combines optical waveguides and micromechanical membranes with two optical read-out techniques (RR and MZI) to at least two US applications; medical ultrasound (US) and photoacoustics (PA). We will solve technical challenges such as increasing sensitivity, mass parallelization by optical multiplexing and hybrid integration of microelectronics in PIC, tuneable waveguides, fiber chip coupling manufacturability and packaging. These advances will lead to a higher production yield and increased insight in the processing solutions of hybrid integrated photonics. The IPUTs are based on easily accessible materials, don’t require lead to improve the performance and laser power can be reduced significantly. We will iteratively develop an effective SOI and SiN manufacturing process to realize very sensitive IPUT sensors and integrate them into US transducer arrays for medical imaging and PA for validation and demonstration on phantoms instead of tissue. The partners have the in-house capability to develop, manufacture, integrate and package the novel IPUT-based sensing systems into transducers, covering the full manufacturing value chain. The increase in sensitivity will enable: 1. An increase of the US image by a factor 2. 2. An increase of the penetration depth by a factor 2. 3. A 100x reduction of the peak pressures. 4. A 100x reduction of the required laser power for PA resulting in the use of low-cost lasers. MED-IPUT reinforces European industrial leadership in high-performance multi-sensing system development and manufacturing, particularly in the healthcare sector.

In recent years, through the advancement of imaging technologies (such as MRI, PET, CT, among others) clinical localisation of lesions of the central nervous system (CNS) pre-surgery has made possible for neurosurgeons to plan and navigate away from functional brain locations when removing tumours. However, neuronavigation in the surgical management of brain tumours remains a significant challenge, due to the inability to maintain accurate spatial information of lesioned and non-lesioned locations intraoperatively. To answer this challenge, we have put together a team of engineers, physicists, data scientists and neurosurgeons to develop an innovative, all-optical intraoperative imaging system based on (i) hyperspectral imaging (HSI) for rapid, multi wavelength spectral acquisition, and (ii) artificial intelligence (AI) for image reconstruction and molecular fingerprint recognition. Our intraoperative HSI system (HyperProbe) will (1) map, monitor and quantify biomolecules of interest; (2) be handheld and user-friendly; (3) apply AI-based methods for the reconstruction of spectral images, the analysis of spatio-spectral data and the development and quantification of novel biomarkers. We will validate the developed capacity in phantoms, in vivo against gold standard modalities in neuronavigational imaging, and finally provide proof-of principle during brain tumour surgery. HyperProbe aims at providing functional and structural information on biomarkers of interest that is currently missing during neuro-oncological interventions.

This is a trans-disciplinary project that joins endocrinologists (“end-users”), radiologists (“end-users”), physicists who are experts in medical photonics, engineers who are experts in photonics and ultrasonics and the industry to work towards a concentrated goal - to produce a novel, point-of-care, low-cost, screening device that combines two photonics systems (near-infrared diffuse correlation spectroscopy (DCS) and time-resolved spectroscopy (TRS)) with a multi-modal ultrasound (US) system and a probe that enables multi-modal data acquisition for the screening of thyroid nodules (TN) for thyroid cancer (TC). TN are a common pathology having a prevalence of palpable nodules around 5% in women and 1% in men, that increases to 19-76% with the use of neck US. In screening thyroid nodules, to exclude thyroid cancer which occurs in 5-15% of TN, the first step is the US followed by fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) of suspicious nodules. The sensitivity and specificity of this process in thyroid cancer are limited, with a large number of non-diagnostic and false positive results that lead to unnecessary surgeries. A reduction in the number of surgeries with a point-of-care diagnostic procedure would have an important socio-economic impact, diminishing the number of thyroidectomies and the associated comorbidities. This implies savings of millions of euros per year. Evidence shows that multi-modal approaches that include hemodynamic information leads to better specificity while each modality on its own fails. We hypothesize that a new optical-ultrasound probe and integrated system enabled by the development of novel, key enabling photonic components and sub-systems to provide synergetic information on tissue morphology, composition and function will have a large impact in this field. Our action is directed by end-users who participate in the proposal and will be exploited by the industrial partners who cover the whole value-chain.

Cancer is one of the most devastating diseases the world is currently facing, accounting for 7.6 million deaths in 2008 (WHO). Cancer is usually detected through advanced medical imaging. Early detection is very important as it increases the chances of survival and the potential for full recovery. Further, The high level of sophistication in treating cancer has led to a new unsolved problem, the differentiation between treatment effect, regrowth or pseudo-progression of the tumour. Here, we aim to develop and bring to the clinic a potentially disruptive new technology to characterize and image glucose delivery, uptake and metabolism in cancer. Recently we managed to demonstrate the sensitivity of a technique, named glucose-based Chemical Exchange Saturation Transfer (glucoCEST), to detect native (α-D-glucose) glucose uptake in tumours. In addition, recent developments have shown glucose analogues, such as 3-oxy-methyl-D-glucose (3OMG) can be used as potential non-metabolisable tracers using the same technique. In this proposal, we aim to bring the combination of native D-glucose and 3-oxy-methyl-D-glucose as a combined examination to the clinic to assess cancer glucose uptake and metabolism, thereby providing a cheap, widely available, more comprehensive, non-invasive alternative to nuclear medicine techniques currently used for cancer assessment within Europe.