Optical biopsy for the diagnosis of dysplasia in Barrett's oesophagus

Barrett's oesophagus is an increasingly common pre-cancerous condition, which occurs in patients suffering from acid reflux into their gullet. Biopsies must be taken from patients diagnosed with this condition regularly to pick up signs of pre-cancerous changes. Elastic scattering spectroscopy offers the possibility of distinguishing between benign and precancerous changes in the lower oesophagus with a relatively simple optical measurement. This 'optical biopsy' is correlated with a conventional histopathological specimen obtained at the same point. It is shown that to a relatively high degree of sensitivity and specificity it is possible to distinguish between pre-malignant patches, benign lesions and normal tissue.