Slashdot Mirror
Detecting Cancer Without Drawing Blood
An anonymous reader informs us of research out of Purdue that allows for early detection of cancer without a blood sample. The technique involves shining laser light on surface veins, such as those in the wrist or cheek.
I remember my dad taking a continued education class for dentistry, and he saw something like this.. several years ago. I'm not sure if it was the same thing, but apparently it found cancer in people even before they show symptoms.
Dogs have been used to sniff out cancer patience for a long time... plus they are a lot more friendly and playful than a laser.
Although if you do happen to draw blood...
God spoke to me.
...always seems to work for me! ;)
What're you asking for exactly?
It's very common for there to be multiple versions of the same story in the firehose, editors pick the best.
In this case, they picked the one that linked to the actual news release, not to a secondary news source as you suggest they should have.
No Comment.
Technically its not a dupe, its still in the firehose. Additionally this had the better of the 2 summaries. You'll notice MANY dupes on the firehose, so its not even a big deal.
Learn how slashdot works before telling editors they're doing it wrong. Oh wait, carry on.
I'd rather have the link to Purdue since they're the ones conducting the research, rather than some tech news blog. Just because something came first, doesn't make it the better choice. A better summary or a better link should always win out over earlier submission in my book.
Demented But Determined.
It sure would be nice to have one of these, maybe they should be included with every box of Microwave Popcorn.
Dominant Meme
The real advantage of this technique is that it allows measurement of a larger size sample. There is still an injection of the florescent label, but by scanning the body surface a much larger blood sample can be monitored which makes this method more sensitive - making detection at an early stage better.
Does the Laser come with its own shark?
I smoked pot once. But I DID NOT inhale. Will you hire me?
But it might have been his blog! :GASP: Now you've taken away the rightful income that is guaranteed!
I apologize for the above, but I hate blog trolls...
Mr. Universe: "They can't stop the signal, Mal. They can never stop the signal."
Now, if only they could zap each metastatic cell that passes under their instrument, they'd be able to limit the spread (or, at least, limit those metastases that spend quite a while surfing the blood before finally lodging somewhere else).
There are people who are training hound dogs to detect cancer in people.
8 20_040820_detectordogs.html
The dogs are better suited to the task than some million dollar laser beam.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/08/0
Dogs are cheaper to train and maintain. And, they provide therapy for those who are proven positive.
It's win-win.
They're using their grammar skills there.
One step closer to a working tricorder.
yup, his one and only journal entry links to the same site, different article.
Yeah, that's kinda exactly what I was getting at...there was no reasonable justification for suggesting that the article he linked to in the firehose should have taken precedent in getting picked for the main page...definitely suspect an ulterior motive there.
No Comment.
Ha ha, wrong. The best summary (well written, links to the original source of the news, etc) gets the front page. The summary that you link to in firehose is extremely poorly written, links to some random blog (yours I assume), and is otherwise lacking in rhetorical merit.
Detecting it still needs the 'detection done'. Then if that is done, we still need a fix for all the various cancers that abound.
So, there is a new way to detect cancer - how many people here actually get tested for cancer at anytime?
My guess is ZERO
...cause cancer?
Everything I need to know about copyrights I learned from Slashdot.
the only drawback is that they use a cancer laser.
You can't just make a statement like that without any supporting facts.
Perhaps most importantly:
A) How much work can a cancer sniffing dog do per day?
B) How will that work compare to a machine that can give you a definitive answer about the number of cancer cells per xyz milliliters of blood?
So what I'm really trying to say, is that dogs are not an equivalent alternative. If you RTFA, you'd know that the researchers are excited about this machine because it will let them fine tune how much medication to give, based on the # of cancer cells in the blood. Dogs cannot provide that kind of service.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
I'll admit I only skimmed, but I'm wondering if the cancer needs to be in the lymphatic system in order for it to be detected?
when they can detect cancer without sticking a hand up my butt, and I'll be happy. A laser would be fine, where a dog would definitely not....or would it?
A few months ago I had a lip scan to test a new method of screening for colon cancer. I developed colon cancer at an unusually young age, 31, and I'm going through genetic testing to see if my family members are at risk. One hereditary defect is polyposis, but I don't seem to have that. Another is called hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC).
We're doing blood and tissue screening at the cost of thousands of dollars. But some researchers believe that they can detect HNPCC simply by examining a patient's inner lip. It would make sense since it's the same kind of tissue as at the other end of the digestive track.
So they had me sit in a contraption to hold my head steady and then pull my lip down over a plastic ridge. They shined different wavelengths of light on my lip and recorded the reflections. Later they'll compare the results to my other tests to see if they are correlated.
I was under the impression that they were looking at the structure of blood vessels or the composition of the tissue. I wasn't injected with any labeling agent, so I don't think it's related to the Purdue research.
I heard that if your hand is bigger than your face you'll get cancer! Try it!
-- Of course I'm paranoid. I'm a sysadmin.
soapbox_mode
/soapbox_mode
However, it won't do any good unless the insurance companies will cover it. I was sick for 4 to 5 months. I was running a mild fever continuously, felt miserable and was tired constantly. For months my doctor screwed around, because he knows the HMO won't approve a thorough test. I got the run around, "It must be a systemic infection, let's try this antibiotic." Then, "That didn't work, let's try this one." etc. He ran the limited blood tests that the HMO allowed, which showed nothing. Then one day I go to the emergency room because I'm having trouble breathing, where they do a simple x-ray and they come back with "Hey, there's a 2 1/2" mass pushing against your trachea." Insanity.
who have to pay $1/blood glucose test (~$100/mo) for consumable test strips. Would somebody please offer an X Prize for whomever invents a consumable-free method of testing blood sugars.
Not directly, but some lasers will light cigarettes....
...you get cancer because of this laser?
Minti: What's that huge shuriken in your back?! Kin: It's the instrument of my victory.
Ah hah hah... I just had to post in this epic blog spammer exposure thread. LOL. "Boo hoo, you didn't pick my spam blog over the original source!" :-D
Clever signature text goes here.
Needles = unconsciousness for me, and I don't thing something resembling a barcode scanner will have the same result. Now if they can just apply this to everything else doctors wanna stick me for...
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.