For some people, being diagnosed with cancer is very much akin to getting a death sentence. The whole process, from beginning to end, is long, tedious, and painful. And while skin cancers are essentially curable, especially in its early stages, getting a biopsy can oftentimes be feared.
That’s because skin biopsies are extremely painful. It starts by having the doctor carve away small lumps of tissue that they send to the laboratory for testing. Painful wounds develop, and sometimes, this requires weeks of waiting before they fully heal. That’s a high price to pay, but they go through it because it allows patients to gain access to early cancer treatment, which is an imperative for them. In the past few years, however, aggressive diagnostic efforts have seen the number of biopsies grow by as much as four times faster than the number of cancers detected. And in the figures gathered, around 30 benign lesions have been biopsied for every case of skin cancer that’s detected.
The researchers at Stevens Institute of Technology are aware of this and working hard to develop a low-cost handheld device that could lower rates of unnecessary biopsies by as much as half. This allows dermatologists and other frontline physicians quick and easy access to laboratory-grade cancer diagnostics. “We aren’t trying to get rid of biopsies,” shared Negar Tavassolian. He is the director of the Bio-Electromagnetics Laboratory at Stevens. He also added, “But we do want to give doctors additional tools and help them to make better decisions.”
The new device makes use of millimeter-wave imaging. For those who are unaware, this is the same technology used in airport security scanners. They will use this to scan the skin. In earlier work the team had done, Tavassolian and her group worked with a biopsied skin for them to see if the device was able to spot cells that were cancerous.
This works because healthy tissue reflects millimeter-wave rays differently when compared to cancerous tissue. In theory, this is actually possible. They can now spot cancer on a surface level by monitoring contrasts in the rays that are reflected back from the skin. In order to apply the new approach in clinical practice, they utilized algorithms that fuse signals captured by multiple different antennas into a single ultrahigh-bandwidth image. It does so through noise reduction and by quickly capturing high-resolution images of tiny moles or blemishes, no matter how minute they are.
The whole project was spearheaded by Amir Mirbeik Ph.D. ’18. He and his team made use of a tabletop version of their technology to look into a total of 71 patients during actual clinical visits. They discovered that the new methods are able to accurately differentiate benign and malignant lesions within seconds. With the use of the new device, Tavassolian and Mirbeik were able to spot identify cancerous tissue with 97 percent sensitivity and 98 percent specificity. The numbers are actually very competitive even when compared to the best hospital-grade diagnostic tools.
“There are other advanced imaging technologies that can detect skin cancers, but they’re big, expensive machines that aren’t available in the clinic,” explained Tavassolian. He further stated, “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 new technology is able to provide results within seconds, this may eventually be used instead of a magnifying dermatoscope during usual checkups because the doctors are still able to procure very accurate results almost instantly. “That means doctors can integrate accurate diagnostics into routine checkups, and ultimately treat more patients,” said Tavassolian.
Unlike the other imaging methods being used, millimeter-wave rays are able to penetrate about 2mm into the skin safely, causing no harm. In fact, the team’s imaging technology gives a clear 3D map of scanned lesions. They are also working on further improvements in the future by honing on the algorithm powering of the device. This could very well improve the mapping of lesion margins and enabling more precise and not-as-invasive biopsies for cancerous lesions by leaps and bounds.
The next step would them to pack the diagnostic kit onto an integrated circuit. This would allow a functional handheld millimeter-wave diagnostic device to be made for very little cost, in fact, this could be as low as $100 per piece. This is a mere fraction of the cost of the hospital-grade diagnostic equipment they’re currently using. The team is also looking into commercializing the technology so that these get into the hands of the doctors who need them within the next couple of years.
“The path forward is clear, and we know what we need to do,” said Tavassolian. “After this proof of concept, we need to miniaturize our technology, bring the price down, and bring it to the market.”
Details of the study have already been published in Scientific Reports.
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