Those who have pressed a flashlight against their hands know that veins can be illuminated in a pinkish glow. What they might not know is that this basic principle is now being used by Columbia researchers to detect breast cancer.
A team of scientists from the Columbia University Department of Biomedical Engineering is putting the finishing touches on a system that uses digital optical imaging to look for breast cancer.
The system creates a map of the breast based on how near-infrared rays shine through tissue. Researchers hope that this new technology will provide marked advantages over the traditional mammogram. Patients would no longer have to endure the pain associated with a compressing mammogram machine, or the potentially harmful effects of X-rays. This system would also be more useful for younger patients, whose more dense breast tissue is difficult to see through. “With a mammogram,” Andreas H. Hielscher, Ph.D, Director of Biophotonics & Optical Radiology Laboratory, said, “you’re not sure if it’s cancer or not ... You only see a lesion.” With digital optical imaging, the results are more precise.
“Since this is a new technology, it can’t replace them [mammograms] right away,” Heilscher said, speaking about the difficulties of implementing a new system. “What is likely,” he continued, “is that these two ways of detecting breast cancer might run side by side for a while before mammograms are potentially outmoded.”
Though the use of optical imaging in medicine has been around since the 1990s, Columbia researchers hope their system will provide a vast improvement over technologies of the past. “Our claim is that our system is much more sensitive,” Hielscher said. The goal, he explained, is to make a machine that is more accurate, affordable, and compact than previous models.
Currently, Hielscher and his team are finishing up the final development stages. “The new system will be ready in a month or two, at which point we’ll start with clinical pilot trials,” Hielscher said.
The research is being funded by NRIx Medical Technologies, whose contributions are matched dollar for dollar by New York State Foundation for Science, Technology and Innovation. The size of the grant is $1.5 million.
Though the technology comes with a high price tag, the results have the potential to help countless women win their battles against breast cancer. “One in nine women over their lifetimes will develop breast cancer,” Heilscher said, stressing the importance of this research.
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