A new and improved way to detect skin cancer
Getting a skin biopsy is definitely not the activity of choice for most people. Doctors slice off little lumps of tissue for laboratory testing, leaving patients with unpleasant wounds that can take weeks to heal. However, if it means early cancer treatment, that's a price worth paying. In recent years, however, rigorous diagnostic efforts have seen the number of biopsies increase four times faster than the number of tumors detected, with roughly 30 benign lesions being biopsied for every case of skin cancer discovered.
Stevens Institute of Technology researchers are now working on a low-cost handheld device that might cut the number of unneeded biopsies in half and provide dermatologists and other frontline practitioners with rapid access to laboratory-grade cancer diagnoses. “We aren’t trying to get rid of biopsies,” said Negar Tavassolian, Stevens director of the Bio-Electromagnetics Laboratory. “But we do want to give doctors additional tools and help them to make better decisions.”
The team's equipment scans a patient's skin with milimeter-wave imaging, the same technique used in airport security scanners.
Because healthy tissue reflects milimeter-wave rays differently from diseased tissue, malignancies can theoretically be detected by observing differences in the rays reflected back from the skin. The researchers utilized algorithms to combine signals acquired by numerous separate antennas into a single ultrahigh-bandwidth image, which reduced noise and allowed them to quickly capture high-resolution photographs of even the smallest mole or blemish.
“There are other advanced imaging technologies that can detect skin cancers, but they’re big, expensive machines that aren’t available in the clinic,” said Tavassolian. “We’re creating a low-cost device that’s as small and as easy to use as a cellphone, so we can bring advanced diagnostics within reach for everyone.”
Because the team's invention produces results in a matter of seconds, it could someday replace the magnifying dermatoscope in regular examinations, providing incredibly accurate results almost immediately.“That means doctors can integrate accurate diagnostics into routine checkups, and ultimately treat more patients,” said Tavassolian.
Because milimeter-wave rays enter around 2mm into human skin, unlike many other imaging techniques, the team's imaging approach produces a clear 3D map of detected lesions. Future enhancements to the device's technology could vastly improve lesion margin mapping, allowing for more accurate and more minimally invasive biopsying of malignant lesions.
The team's diagnostics kit will be packed into an integrated circuit, a process that might soon allow effective handheld milimeter-wave diagnostic devices to be created for as little as $100 each, a fraction of the cost of current hospital-grade testing tools. The team is attempting to market their invention and aims to have their devices in the hands of clinicians within the next two years.
