# Early Detection and Diagnosis of Lung Cancer with Endomicroscopy

> **NIH NIH R01** · MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL · 2021 · $662,413

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
Early diagnosis of lung cancer is critical to patient survival. Unfortunately the vast majority of cases are
detected once symptoms arise and the cancer has spread offering patients little hope for cure (average 5-year
survival rate < 15%). The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends individuals at high risk of
developing lung cancer undergo yearly screening with low dose computed tomography (LDCT). Screening is
highly sensitive at detecting lung nodules and has resulted in a reduction in mortality of these patients,
however only 5% of nodules detected are likely to be cancer. Diagnosis of lung cancer must be made on the
microscopic level which is traditionally done by obtaining tissue specimens for subsequent histopathology
examination. Methods for biopsy generally fall under two categories; high-risk surgical and transthoracic
procedures that provide a higher diagnostic yield, and low-risk bronchoscopy based procedures that generally
have a lower yield. Given that the vast majority of nodules detected by LDCT screening are benign it is critical
that the high-risk procedures for diagnosis are avoided. The low diagnostic yields of bronchoscopy based
biopsy procedures can be attributed to insufficiently large, inappropriately located, or non-diagnostic tissue
sampling. Therefore there is a critical need to dramatically increase the diagnostic yield of low-risk bronchial
biopsy approaches. In our laboratory we have developed novel optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging
approaches to provide high-resolution images of tissue microstructure. We have additionally developed and
disseminated OCT interpretation criteria for the diagnosis lung cancer. In this proposal we aim to further
develop our endobronchial OCT imaging catheters to provide images with superior resolution and contrast with
the goal of microscopically guiding biopsy site selection to increase tumor yield (Aim 2), and to use our
endomicroscopy images and previously developed image interpretation criteria to provide a preliminary
diagnosis of the lesion within the procedure room (Aim 3). The intra-procedural diagnostic endomicroscopy
images could be useful complementary information provided to pathologists in addition to the tiny physical
biopsy specimens for diagnosis, or to enable immediate diagnosis and treatment of small lesions without
requiring a second procedure.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10099692
- **Project number:** 1R01CA255326-01
- **Recipient organization:** MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
- **Principal Investigator:** Melissa J Suter
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $662,413
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2021-01-01 → 2025-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10099692

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10099692, Early Detection and Diagnosis of Lung Cancer with Endomicroscopy (1R01CA255326-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10099692. Licensed CC0.

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