New ways to detect breast cancer early

AS WE mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October with the aim of increasing our knowledge of how we can help beat one of the most common cancers in women, here we round up some of the latest inventions and advances in screening.

With more research focusing on new ways to detect the disease as early as possible, it is hoped that this will allow for a better prognosis for breast cancer patients.

High-tech sensors Japanese and US scientists have developed super-thin bendable sensors that can one day be used to detect breast lumps.

The ultra thin sensors are just 3.4 micrometres thick – less than half the thickness of kitchen wrap – and could be placed inside pressure-sensitive gloves to physically screen for breast cancer.

The sensor is so flexible it can detect pressure changes accurately even when twisted like cloth, which the team say is a world first.

According to the team, the sensations felt when using the gloves could even be shared with other doctors, who – in theory – can experience the same sensations as the doctor who performed the examination.

DNA analysis An American study, which looked at 200 cancer patients in the US, Denmark and the Netherlands, found that a new blood test which looked at changes in DNA was able to successfully diagnose stage 1 and stage 2 cancers in 62% of cases of colorectal, breast, lung and ovarian cancer.

The findings could now pave the way to develop a treatment that could detect several types of cancer earlier in apparently healthy subjects, helping patients to avoid the aggressive treatments required by the later, metastasised stages.

The researchers also commented that the test could be particularly useful for those at a higher risk of cancer, such as women with hereditary mutations of the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes that make them more vulnerable to breast and ovarian cancer. – AFP-Relaxnews