SpectraScience granted European patent

SpectraScience, Inc. has announced that it has received the official decision for the grant of another European Patent number 1063921 for its "Optical Biopsy Forceps System and Method of Sampling Tissue."

The Company developed the Optical Biopsy Probe for use with its proprietary WavSTAT Optical Biopsy System. It is used by physicians to diagnose whether tissue is normal, pre-cancerous, or cancerous within one second. The WavSTAT System is currently approved by the FDA for use in detecting cancer in the colon. The probe is unique in that a small optical fiber is located coaxially in its center to diagnose pre-cancers. Then in the same procedure, treatment can begin by removal of the tissue with forceps jaws adjacent to the optical probe. Furthermore, the optical probe can be then used around the margin of the tissue to insure all diseased tissue has been removed.

A new application for detecting pre-cancers in the throat, sometimes called Barrett's esophagus, is being tested in a clinical trial. Cancer of the esophagus is more than 90% fatal and may develop as a result of chronic heartburn or GERD. Esophageal cancer is growing five times faster than all other cancers.