A team of researchers from Ism-Cnr andUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma proposes a method based on latest generation Raman microscopy to improve diagnosis. 50% of diagnostic interventions are avoidable. The study published in Scientific Reports
Rome, 20 December 2017 – The Institute of Structure of Matter of National Research Council (Ism-Cnr), in collaboration with theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma, the Thermo Fisher Scientific of Milan and with the contribution of Alberto Sordi Foundation, recently posted on Scientific Reports (group Nature) the results of an investigation concerning a method to distinguish more effectively benign from malignant thyroid neoplasms.
"Il The number of patients with thyroid nodules is constantly growing, with a concomitant increase in cancer diagnosis and surgery, with total removal of the thyroid gland and subsequent hormone replacement therapy for a significant number of patients. However, according to recent scientific literature, surgical solutions could be avoided in some patients, particularly for follicular lesions of the thyroid and, in some cases, for small carcinomas. This is a public health issue on a global scale which mainly involves high-income countries and which has prompted a reformulation of the sector's guidelines", explains Julietta V. Rau, Ism-Cnr researcher and first author of the study: “Through one combined technique of latest generation microscopy and spectroscopy (Raman) we were able to distinguish better and classify healthy tissue from neoplastic tissue and to discriminate between malignant (carcinoma) and benign (adenoma) follicular neoplasms, with a diagnostic accuracy of about 90%. The technique used has already been tested for the diagnosis of other tumors and is able to attribute specific biochemical characteristics to the thyroid tissues observed under a microscope".
The conclusion of this first study paves the way for a more accurate diagnosis of thyroid nodules and it is an important step towards increasing the reliability of the diagnosis of thyroid follicular lesions, thanks to Raman spectroscopy coupled with histopathological investigations.“In the future we trust that we can transfer this technique to the patient in the pre-surgical phase, at the time of the evaluation for the choice of treatment, so as to give the most appropriate therapeutic indication”, He adds Anna Crescenzi, director of the Complex Pathological Anatomy Operational Unit of theUniversità Campus Bio-Medico di Roma e principal investigator of research.
"The importance of the study lies in the fact that, currently, to decide whether a patient with a thyroid nodule needs surgery or can be followed clinically, are used ultrasound and needle aspiration, two diagnostic tools that in follicular lesions they are not discriminating. This situation occurs in approximately 20% of nodules subjected to needle aspiration. Therefore, these patients receive a surgery for 'diagnostic' purposes, which in more than half of the cases could have been avoided".
Bibliographical references:
'Proof-of-concept Raman spectroscopy study aimed at differentiating thyroid follicular patterned lesions'; Rau JV, Fosca M, Graziani V, Taffon C, Rocchia M, Caricato M, Pozzilli P, Onetti Muda A, Crescenzi A. Sci Rep. 2017 Nov 2;7(1):14970; doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-14872-1.
