Bharat Panuganti, M.D., assistant professor in the UAB Department of Otolaryngology, and Jason Warram, Ph.D., associate professor and director of the Head and Neck Research Lab in the Department of Otolaryngology, have been awarded a two-year NIH-funded R21 grant to research fluorescence surgical navigation and confocal laser endomicroscopy for laryngeal cancer treatment.

The funding, provided by the National Cancer Institute, begins in July 2024 and will provide $375,000 to support a clinical trial aimed at developing tools that enhance cancer visibility during surgery.

The Heersink Communications team asked Warram to elaborate on the grant and its implications.

What will this grant help support?

Warram: The NIH funding will support a clinical trial to evaluate a molecular imaging agent in patients undergoing larynx cancer surgery. This imaging agent will enhance the surgeon’s ability to accurately localize and excise cancerous areas.

Why is this work significant to researchers and patients within your department?

Warram: As principal investigators, Dr. Panuganti and I form a unique team of surgeon and scientist dedicated to exploring scientific solutions to surgical challenges with the goal of advancing surgical treatment for larynx cancer patients. Dr. Hari Jeyarajan, associate professor of Otolaryngology and director of Transoral Robotic Surgery, is also a crucial team member responsible for enrolling larynx cancer patients and performing surgeries for the trial.

What are your future goals as it relates to this grant?

Warram: This funding will provide crucial preliminary data demonstrating the use of fluorescence-guided surgery in larynx cancer patients. The data will be used to expand the study into a Phase 2 multi-site clinical trial, which will be supported by a larger NIH grant.

Anything else you’d like to add?

Warram: Balancing tumor control and preserving post-treatment speech outcomes is of primary importance in the surgical management of patients with early-stage laryngeal cancer. Transoral laser microsurgery has become the primary surgical approach to endolaryngeal tumors, although no reliable approaches are approved to aid the surgeon's intraoperative visual assessment of tumor borders. This study will demonstrate clinical feasibility for a novel, combinatorial optical imaging approach to aid intraoperative identification of laryngeal cancer borders for surgical treatment while preserving essential normal tissue.