A large-scale clinical study from The National Cancer Institute (NCI) demonstrated that x-ray CT screening sharply reduced lung cancer deaths by detecting cancers at relatively early stages. Patients screened with x-ray CT were 20% less likely to die from lung cancer. Claudia Henschke, as part of an ASU research study led by the Biodesign Institute, also found that annual screening by x-ray CT detects lung cancers in their earliest stage, when up to 92% can be cured.

With this larger, clinical question regarding efficacy of screening for lung cancer now positively resolved the task turns to define the most accurate, cost effective, and safe method of lung cancer screening.

VisionGate is developing the LuCED Test based on its Cell-CT platform, to generate high-resolution three-dimensional images of cells isolated from patient sputum (phlegm) to measure cellular features and molecular markers. The LuCED Test will provide an analysis of 3D cell reconstructions that may help detect abnormal cells.

When the lungs are exposed to carcinogenic insult, such as through long-term smoking, the cells that form the inner lining of the airways undergo characteristic changes that indicate a developing lung cancer or malignant process. There are approximately 100 million current and former smokers in the U.S. alone, a risk group wherein 80-90% of all lung cancer cases occur. Sputum contains high numbers of these lung cells, and the Cell-CT is being designed to detect the appropriate cells and measure cellular features in 3D.

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