Land mine technology to help detect breast cancer in 8 sec

In fact,they have already carried out three successful trials with 300 women at Frenchay and Southmead hospitals. And results from the trials showed a diagnostic success rate of 80 per cent.

The team aims to boost that to 90 per cent by tweaking the technology. They hope to have the device in production within three years,a media report said.

MARIA — which stands for Multistatic Array processing for Radiowave Image Acquisition — is made from 60 antennas which create a complete scan of the breast in eight seconds.

They are searching for areas with a high dielectric constant — in humans these are areas rich in blood and water,tell-tale signs of a tumour. The scanning technology was originally made for land mines,which also have a high dielectric constant around them.

Patients lie on a table with a circular hole cut into it,which their breast hangs through,while the machine is hydraulically moved up to nestle against the skin. It then scans breast to pick up areas with a high dielectric constant immediately highlighting them in a bright colour such as blue or red,say the scientists.

Roy Johnston,executive chairman of Micrimia,said: “The technology was originally developed for land mines as when they aren’t metallic you need something more than a metal detector. Land mines,just like tumours,have high dielectric constant. We have simply transformed that technology for breast cancer.”

An expert,Martin Ledwick,Cancer Research UK’s head information nurse,said: “If clinical trials show it’s a safe and effective alternative to mammography it could be very useful.”