Nigerian-Born Wash U Scientist Wins Annual St. Louis Award For His Cancer-Seeing Glasses

As head of the Washington University optical radiology laboratory — where researchers study how to use light to improve diagnosis and treatment of disease — Samuel Achilefu heard from surgeons frustrated by the difficulty of removing every remnant of a patient’s cancerous tumor.

Before surgery, imaging tests involving big, high-tech machines can create detailed pictures of a person’s cancer, Achilefu said, “but when a patient is in the operating room, it’s like walking in the dark.”

Achilefu wondered, what if he could take imaging technology and make it wearable like night-vision goggles used in the military so surgeons could see the cancer while they are operating?

The technology would be extremely difficult — some even thought impossible — to miniaturize and make functional and wearable for hours. But after dedicating five years to the project, Achilefu created cancer-visualizing glasses that were successfully used in surgeries for first time last year.

On Wednesday, the Nigerian-born scientist won the prestigious St. Louis Award for 2014 for his work in creating the technology, which could affect the outcomes of cancer patients across the world.

At the awards ceremony, Achilefu, 52, told the crowd his work was driven by the question: What if? “ ‘What if’ is really telling us that we should not be focusing on the problem,” he said, “but the potential solution for it.”

Foster pride

Achilefu is the 87th person to receive the annual award since it was established in 1931 — the worst of the depression years — by prominent philanthropist David P. Wohl. The shoe company owner anonymously founded the award to recognize a St. Louis area resident who “performed such a service as to bring greatest honor to the community.” Wohl hoped to foster optimism and pride in the city he loved.

Award committee president David Kemper, chairman and of Commerce Bancshares Inc., praised Achilefu for “putting St. Louis in the spotlight for advancements in optical imaging technology that have pushed the boundaries of cancer treatment.”

Even under high magnification, it’s nearly impossible for surgeons to tell where a cancer tumor ends and healthy tissue begins. To make sure they remove all the cancerous cells, surgeons remove the tumor and neighboring tissue. The samples are sent to a lab and viewed under a microscope. If the surrounding tissue contains cancer cells, a second surgery is performed to remove even more tissue. 

Among breast cancer patients, about 20 to 25 percent who have cancerous lumps removed require a second surgery.

The glasses were used for the first time during a breast cancer operation on Feb. 10 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and have since been used on more than two dozen people with breast cancer, melanoma or liver cancer.

A commonly used contrast agent is injected into the patient’s tumor. When viewed with near-infared light, the cancerous cells glow blue. Tumors as small as 1 millimeter in diameter (as thick as about 10 sheets of paper) can be detected.

Breast surgeon Dr. Julie Margenthaler is encouraged. “Imagine what it would mean if these glasses eliminated the need for follow-up surgery and the associated pain, inconvenience and anxiety,” she said.

Culled from here

This amazing News was published in January 2015 but i just realised that it is not on any Nigerian website.

Ah ah,this is it,lets celebrate one of our own.Well done Sir!