Breast cancer imaging device granted funding
A European research consortium headed by the University of Twente, the Netherlands, is to receive grants of more than €5m, to develop a new imaging device for breast cancer diagnosis.
A prototype of the device will be ready for large-scale testing and production in four years. Not only could it provide improved photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging, it could also combine the images generated by both techniques.
The expectation is that the new imager will improve and accelerate the diagnosis of breast cancer, and also be applicable for younger women.
Worldwide, more than 1.5 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year and half a million women die from the disease.
Current techniques for detecting breast cancer – x-ray mammography, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) – have shortcomings.
The most significant disadvantage of these techniques is that they cannot always clearly distinguish a tumour from healthy tissue or a benign abnormality, so that tumours are missed.
The proposed device is expected to shorten the time to accurate diagnosis substantially. It will also be suitable for younger women.
Project leader Professor Srirang Manohar said: “we will be working on this prototype with the best partners in Europe and actively involving doctors and patient associations for their inputs and advice in the design and testing processes.”
Manohar added: “The images from the two systems will be combined together. This will result in simultaneous three-dimensional information about disease specific optical contrast, as well as about the ultrasound properties which provide anatomic information within the breast.”
Manohar expects the project to lead to various improved subsystems for data acquisition, ultrasound detection and a new powerful laser.
The consortium will include researchers from University College London, UK, scientists from the University of Bern, Switzerland, and French company Imasonic, among others.
€4.35m of the total funds will be awarded through Horizon 2020.
