"Smart Probe" Detects Breast Cancer

xpccx writes: "I've seen in several scientific journals articles about a device called a 'Smart Probe.' It's a device from BioLuminate which is licensing technologies from NASA and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. (Read more.)

From the press release:

Sensors on the tip of the probe measure optical, electrical and chemical properties that are known to differ between healthy and cancerous tissues. The "Smart Probe" can detect multiple (5 to 7) known indicators of breast cancer. Tissue measurements are made in real time in both normal and suspect tissue.

I did a Google search and information can be found here(1), here(2) and here(3) amongst others.

It's still an invasive procedure, but if it does work it would be a great relief to women who would normally go through unecessary biopsies. "In the U.S. each week, approximately 16,000 women undergo unnecessary, surgical breast biopsies on suspicious tissue that turns out benign.""

Comments

What about the AAP?

[Black Parrot]

Now if we only knew what the Alien Anal Probe was trying to detect.

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My mother died of breast cancer ...

[JoeGee]

Part of the long road she travelled was a biopsy that left her visibly disfigured. Had the biopsy returned negative, she would have been left with a four centimeter deep pockmark on her breast. The modified radical mastectomy did not affect her as deeply as the biopsy did.

If this probe can help to alleviate unnecessary biopsies and the emotional pain they cause then hooray for its developers, this is good news for lots of women, which is good news for people like me who are near and dear to a few of them.

Lame attempt at a joke

[billcopc]

I've got two smart probes right here, they're called hands. Sorry but this is just something I wouldn't trust a machine to tell if there's risk or not. Machines fail, that's why most of us have jobs to fix them.

Re:Lame attempt at a joke

[sulli]

Actually not a joke - automatic probes or not, it's very important to do a regular self-examination. A good friend of mine lost her mother because she failed to detect cancer until it was too late - this was shocking to me, but I guess many women just don't check for lumps!