Computer specialists and surgeons at the University of Dundee are teaming up to do research that could one day lead to a hand held instrument that would allow GPs to give a preliminary diagnosis of breast cancer in minutes. The new technology could also form the basis of breast cancer screening.
The Dundee team are attempting to develop an ultrasound imaging technique that will detect breast cancers at an early stage. Cancer tissue is much stiffer than healthy tissue, which is why breast lumps can felt. The Dundee technique uses a special type of ultrasound imaging, called Doppler imaging, to examine tissue while a small vibration is applied. The stiff tissue moves less than the healthy tissue and shows up as a different colour Doppler ultrasound image.
Professor Ian Ricketts from the department of applied computing explains: "Our aim is to detect tumours that are too small or too undeveloped to be detected on x-rays. Tumours are stiffer than normal tissue so when we scan the tissue while it is being vibrated they will show up as darker images. This technology cannot be used where bone gets in the way -such as inside the skull - but it would work well in the breast or abdomen." The use of ultrasound imaging for detecting breast cancers and pinpointing their positions has the advantage of avoiding the use of x-rays. X-ray imaging requires expensive equipment placed in specialised clinics and has a small but significant risk factor. By contrast, ultrasound imaging can be relatively cheap and the systems can be small and mobile.
The team is also looking at the speed of tissue movement to detect tumours. Ian Ricketts explained: "Doppler imaging tells us how fast the tissue moves. We think that when vibrated, soft tissue will move faster than hard tissue allowing us to detect hard areas and possible tumours.
Ultrasound images normally show a slice view of the body, Ian Ricketts, and his group, are developing a system that takes many slice views and processes them to produce a 3D image of the body. This means that the system will not only be better at detecting cancers but will also be better at showing their exact positions.
He said: "This new technology will allow us to see tumours sooner, at an earlier stage of development and give a far more reliable and speedy diagnosis. This collaborative research project has the potential to help in screening for a range of common cancers. Although our present studies focus on breast cancer, which affects 38,000 women in the UK every year, the approach could equally apply to other common tumour sites including the prostate which currently affects over 21,000 males in the UK".
Contact Professor Ian Ricketts 01382 344153