Development of an Improved Oral Brush for Cytology

Over 50,000 adults were diagnosed with oral squamous cell carcinoma in 2020 resulting in over 10,000 deaths in the United States. Surgical biopsy is the current standard for oral cancer diagnosis, but this procedure has its own limitations such as expense and pain during the extraction of the tissue. An easier and less expensive alternative is using an oral cytology brush to collect microRNA from oral keratinocytes for the early diagnosis of oral cancer. Current oral cytology brushes exist on the market, but they can harm patients, like the CytoSoft with its protruding metal tip from its twisted-in-wire design causing bleeding during sample collection, and they don’t fit well inside the centrifuge tube for examination, like the Orcellex, which are both important user needs. Some design considerations include the brush must be sterile and include a detachable head. The brush handle must be long and flexible to reach places further in the mouth. The handle of our brush is flexible, fabricated with nylon plastic via MultiJet Fusion allowing the brush head to reach deep into the mouth. The brush head consists of long nylon bristles allowing safe extraction of cells similar to the aforementioned brushes. The arrangement of bristles are in three rows with varying different length bristles to conform to the shape of the mouth. To test efficacy, we compare our brush to the CytoSoft and Orcellex on a 1-10 scale for pain, roughness, and comfortability and use an anova and post-hoc analysis to determine any significant difference between the brushes. We expect our brush to be less painful and rough than the aforementioned brushes. A non-invasive approach is useful for all medical professionals interested in attaining samples. With our brush, we can provide a non-invasive solution that aids in early diagnosis.