During Tuesday’s ASGE Clinical Symposium Imaging: The Next Generation of Optical Diagnostics, four members of the Optical Society of America (OSA) will update attendees on recent advances in optical diagnostics.

“This is a very important topic right now, and we’re really fortunate to have some of the top researchers here to talk about what’s available now and what’s on the horizon,” said Kenneth Wang, MD, FASGE, AGAF, director of the Advanced Endoscopy Group and the Esophageal Neoplasia Clinic at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN.

Dr. Wang will co-moderate the symposium with Xingde Li, PhD, professor of biomedical, electrical and computer engineering at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Whiting School of Engineering, Baltimore, MD.

In the first presentation, Dr. Li will discuss fiber-coupled multiphoton spectroscopy, which allows for detailed visualization of microscopic structures without the need for enhancing agents, such as stains or fluorescent probes.

The next presenter, Vadim Backman, PhD, the Walter Dill Scott professor of biomedical engineering at Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering, Evanston, IL, will discuss inverse spectroscopic optical coherence tomography, which can detect nanostructures that can predict whether neoplasia or cancer is present.

Adam Wax, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering at Duke University’s Pratt School of Engineering, Durham, NC, will follow with a presentation on angle-resolved low-coherence interferometry, which can analyze a lesion to determine its neoplastic potential. Thomas Wang, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, will discuss in vivo molecular imaging and its potential for identifying genetic abnormalities that may indicate existing cancer as well as precancerous tissue.

In the final presentation, Dr. Kenneth Wang will discuss how all of these enhanced imaging technologies fit together and could eventually impact the practice of gastrointestinal endoscopy.

“These new and evolving technologies are giving us the ability to see things we could never see before,” Dr. Wang said. “We’ll be able to make real-time diagnoses and treat disease the moment we encounter it, rather than taking biopsies, waiting for the results and having the patient come back for another procedure. This is far beyond the capabilities we currently have and will be an important addition to the gastroenterologist’s armamentarium for the future.”

Please refer to the DDW Mobile App or the Program section in Tuesday’s DDW Daily News for the time and location of this and other DDW^® events.