Field Deployable Platform For Prognostic Hepatic Cancer Screening.

267Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incidence rates are increasing in many parts of the world particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Although treatable if identified in the early stages in many LMICs patients are identified later in disease. A low cost point of care system that could identify patients at a higher risk of having HCC could be used as a screening tool to identify patients at an earlier stage. We are currently developing a low cost point of care hand held platform that can simultaneously evaluate the blood levels of common HCC markers. We present our preliminary findings on the limit of detection (LOD) of our system. Methods: Our device combines the rapid but qualitative results of a vertical flow assay with the quantitative capabilities of surface enhanced Raman scattering spectroscopy. Our final product will be able to simultaneously measure the blood levels of the five most proven markers of HCC: alphafetoprotein (AFP), lens-culinaris agglutinin binding alphafe...