The experimental work of the PICCOLO Project has already started in the Gastroenterology and Pathological Anatomy Services at the OSI Bilbao-Basurto.

The OSI Bilbao-Basurto (Osakidetza/BIOEF) has started the collection of routine colonoscopy videos to work on image analysis and processing in order to achieve the project objectives.

The PICCOLO Project proposes the development of a new colonoscope based on OCT and MPT photonics for improving polyp diagnosis, margin detection and safe mucosal resection at the time of colonoscopy, without requiring histology and further procedures for diagnosis assessment.

So far, work has been done on the technological development and aspects about the design of the study have been defined.

After evaluation and approval by the Euskadi Clinical Research Ethics Committee (CEIC-E), clinicians from the OSI Bilbao-Basurto (Osakidetza/BIOEF) have started the collection of routine colonoscopy videos from patients participating in the Bowel Cancer Screening Program in the Basque Country. These patients have agreed to be part of the study by signing an informed consent and donating the videos of their colon recorded during the exploration with conventional endoscopes

These videos will be anonymized and will be shared with the project partners involved in the wide-field white light image analysis and processing. The videos will be part of a database that is being generated in order to extract the imaging biomarkers that will characterize polyps with the required specificity and sensitivity. CCMIJU and TECNALIA will be involved on the development of the algorithms to automatically extract the imaging biomarkers.

In a near future, we will include in the study the surveillance patients from the Gastroenterology Service at the OSI Bilbao-Basurto in order to have access to different lesions that are not usually found among the Screening Program patients. This proposal has just been approved by the CEIC-E.

The final goal is to develop a new endoscope that will allow performance of image-guided optical biopsies for in-vivo diagnosis, reducing the neccesity to make tissue biopsies and therefore costs and time.

Image: Gastroenterologist from OSI Bilbao-Basurto involved in the PICCOLO Project recording a routine colonoscopy.