New Jersey: A new hand-held device can now accurately diagnose skin cancer without a biopsy.
To identify skin cancer around the world, a small piece of it is taken out and examined in a laboratory for several days, which is called a biopsy. But the Steven Institute's hand-held instrument can detect cancer from a wavelength and indicate whether it is cancerous or non-cancerous.
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The biopsy procedure for cancer diagnosis is time consuming and painful. A small piece of suspicious wart or blister is cut and sent to the laboratory, while it takes weeks for the wound to heal. It is now the case that many times biopsies have to be performed without any reason, so the identification of skin cancer has become a mystery.
Now the Stevens Institute has developed a new tool that is low cost as well as instant results and also meets laboratory standards. It captures the biopsy at the millimeter level and this technology is commonly used in scanning at airports.
The device scans the skin and examines the reflected rays from there. Its algorithm produces excellent images from multiple antennas. It can see even the smallest blemishes and fine warts with high clarity and no breakage.
First a large table version was made which scanned the skin of 71 people. In just a few seconds, each patient was examined and the experts examined him with 97% accuracy and 98% accuracy in determining his type of cancer. The rate was even higher than the state-of-the-art hospital laboratory.
Although many cancer imaging devices are available, they are expensive and large and out of reach of poor countries. In comparison, the new high-speed manual device is much less expensive and more efficient.
Due to the millimeter wavelength, light penetrates the skin up to two millimeters and forms a 3D map of the bulge. The image is then sent to software where the algorithm predicts whether or not it is cancerous. Further confirmation can then be obtained from the biopsy.
In the next phase, it will be made even smaller, and in just two years, a model will be available for 100.
