The Horizon 2020 project Laser and Ultrasound Co-analyzer for Thyroid Nodules (LUCA) aims to develop an innovative technology for thyroid cancer screening that will provide doctors with enhanced information required to provide better and more specific results in thyroid nodule screening and enable better diagnosis.
Current methods do not provide sufficient support to surgeons in their decision on the appropriate course of action, which leads to significant number of unnecessary surgeries and a reduced quality of life for patients. This calls for an increased sensitivity and specificity of the conventionally applied screening process.
LUCA tackles this need by producing a novel, point-of-care, low-cost device for the screening of thyroid nodules. The device will combine two photonics systems, near-infrared diffuse correlation spectroscopy and time-resolved spectroscopy, with a multi-modal ultrasound system and a probe that enables multimodal data acquisition for the screening of thyroid nodules for thyroid cancer. Once successful, LUCA will save millions of euros over the coming decades and improve the lives of millions of Europeans.