Nanofilm for early breast cancer diagnosis
Breast cancer was proposed to be diagnosed with the help of "electronic skin"
Medical News Today: 'Electronic skin' could revolutionize breast cancer detectionAmerican scientists are working on creating an "electronic skin" – a device that detects the presence and shape of tumors in the mammary gland with a size of less than 10 millimeters in length and produces an appropriate image on the screen.
These developments, published in the journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, will increase the survival rate of patients with breast cancer by 94%.
Diagram from ACS News‘Electronic skin’ press release could improve early breast cancer detection – VM
Early detection of cancer allows you to save about a hundred lives every year, allowing you to fight the tumor before it grows and affects neighboring tissues. Currently, there are several different ways to determine the presence of breast cancer. When diagnosing, first of all, a manual examination of the mammary glands is performed, then, if there are suspicions or as a screening procedure, ultrasound or mammography (X-ray examination) of the mammary glands can be prescribed. The latter procedure is not recommended for women under 35 years of age, since in youth the breast tissue is more sensitive to radiation exposure.
Palpation is the most widely used method of detecting seals in the tissues of the mammary glands, but the smaller the size of the tumor, the more difficult it is to detect it in this way.
The currently existing devices for detecting seals in the mammary gland, for example, SureTouch, have relatively poor image quality, and therefore they are not able to accurately determine the shape of the tumor, which is a decisive factor in determining the type of tumor.
Researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln have created a film tactile device consisting of nanoparticles and polymers that can transmit images through touch. As studies have shown, the "electronic skin" developed by them successfully identified tumors smaller than 5 millimeters, which can be difficult to detect even for an experienced specialist.
The results obtained look promising, since one day such technology will be able to replace the palpation method of breast examination. According to the authors, in the future their device may be used for screening the early stages of the development of melanoma and other cancers.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru16.09.2014