Before the VELscope device was created, was there a way to detect oral cancer at an early stage?
Dr. Brattesani: First of all, the device helps detect it but it doesn’t say that it is oral cancer. The only way to tell if it’s oral cancer is with a physical biopsy. A biopsy is a much better way of diagnosing the area of concern and of identifying the right border. For example, in the old days when you have a questionable area, you would biopsy the area and also take a little good tissue surrounding it to differentiate between the two. The problem with all cancer is that it tends to be volcanic. There’s a little peak of cancer but underneath is an underlying structure. Using the new VELscope method, researchers are finding that the cancerous area is quite large compared to what they found using the old method. If we can get that whole base early on, we can stop it in its tracks. Does the VELscope effect oral cancer treatment? Dr. Brattesani: The VELscope makes detecting cancer more definitive. I would rather remove all of the cancer rather than just pieces of it. There’s an old argu
