OCT tethered capsule endomicroscopy targeted laser capture biopsy for detection of genetic biomarkers of esophageal cancer progression in Barrett’s esophagus patients

Screening of Barrett's Esophagus (BE) for progression to esophageal adenocarcinoma with standard endoscopic biopsy is expensive, invasive, and imprecise due to sampling error and the limited value of histomorphology for predicting cancer risk. We have developed a technology called in vivo laser capture microdissection (IVLCM) that overcomes these issues by using OCT tethered capsule endomicroscopy (OCT-TCE) to image the entire esophagus at the microscopic level. Pilot clinical study results show that IVLCM samples provide sufficient DNA material for genetic sequencing. The comparison of sequencing quality and gene mapping of IVLCM samples and conventional FFPE biopsy samples will be analyzed in the ongoing clinical study.