Young patients suffering from Cooley's anemia experience a life threatening accumulation of iron, particularly in the heart and liver. Effective removal of deposited iron by chelating drugs requires a timely and accurate assessment of iron level in the patient. There is an urgent need for development of a rapid, inexpensive and safe method to determine the iron concentration in the organ tissues of Cooley's anemia patients. This proposed contract address the development of an innovative probe for in-situ, real-time detection of iron deposits, as well as levels of certain other trace elements. The technology is based upon a x-ray fluorescence system assembled at the tip of a minimally-invasive 3.2 mm diameter probe. The probe can be introduced in place of a biopsy needle, either laparoscopically or through various anatomical passageways. It is designed to make intimate contact with heart, liver, and other organ tissues to take a direct reading of trace element content. The innovation introduced is a significant improvement over existing technology and for the first time, allows the detection of trace elements in body tissues at the patient's bedside.
