Development of a Bioimpedance Probe for Enhanced Tissue Identification in the Upper Aerodigestive Tract

Upper Aerodigestive Tract (UADT) cancers are prevalent, and often fatal, due to late diagnosis. Like many other biological tissues, UADT tissue consists of multiple layers, with cancer commonly developing in the epithelial layer, before spreading to deeper structures. Accurate identification of each layer can aid in early diagnosis, resulting in improved treatment outcomes. This study presents a bioimpedance sensing probe with optimized electrode placement for diagnosis of UADT cancers. The probe, designed to fit a laryngoscope's working channel, is equipped with four electrodes, allowing for a total of 12 impedance measurements. To determine the electrode position on the probe, a novel optimization method is used to increase the difference between sensitivity distributions for different measurements. Experiments performed using simulation validate the probe's effectiveness in retrieving more information to be used for tissue identification, demonstrating its potential for real-time, on-site cancer detection.