SBIR-STTR Award

A survey within the medical community revealed that an instrument capable of continuously and accurately monitoring temperature at multiple locations in and around a tumor during hyperthermia therapy is needed.The treatment of cancer by hyperthermia is a process by which elevated temperatures are used to destroy cancer cells. Since the application of elevated temperatures may also damage healthy tissue, a means must be provided to selectively apply the heat and monitor the temperature in and around the tumor being treated. OPTECH's sensor provides the following: . potential for an array of up to five temperature sensors along a single optical fiber, . small size (0.5 mm in diameter and 1.0 mm long per sensor), . resolution of 0.01øC and an accuracy of + 0.1øC, . reliable and safe (nonthrombogenic), and . dielectric sensors, therefore, measurements can be made in a microwave environment.The specific aim of this Phase I proposal is to build a prototype temperature sensor having two spatially separated temperature-sensitive regions on a single optical fiber and to validate its predicted performance under laboratory conditions. The individual sensors can be separately interrogated. The technique will be extended during Phase II to include up to five sensors on one fiber.National Cancer Institute (NCI

The medical community needs an instrument that continuously and accurately monitors temperature at multiple locations in and around a tumor during hyperthermia therapy. Current temperature monitoring devices cannot satisfactorily meet this need.During Phase I, Optical Technologies, Inc. developed a unique fiber-optic sensor that can monitor temperature continuously and accurately at multiple locations by measuring temperature at more than one location on a single optical fiber. Phase II will produce a commercial version of this sensor by developing production techniques that ensure ready manufacturability and incorporating the sensor into a thermometer array. The sensor will have the following features:* ability to measure temperature at multiple locations in a single probe* small probe diameter (as small as 0.35 mm)* accuracy (ñO.l(C), resolution (0.01(C)* dielectric sensors, useable in microwave environments* thermal response of 1 C(/sec* reliability and safety (nonthrombogenic).The result will be a commercial quality fiber-optic temperature array that fills an immediate need in the hyperthermia therapy of cancerous tumors.National Cancer Institute (NCI)