Prototype Scanner Detects Cancer In Under 1 Hour

Ian Lamont writes "Researchers at Stanford say they have developed a blood scanner that can search for cancer-associated proteins in a blood sample and returns results in less than an hour. The device looks in a blood sample for cancerous proteins, and attempts to match them up with complementary proteins using chips based on magnetic nanotechnology. One of the researchers says the device could potentially help doctors identify lung cancer, ovarian cancer and pancreatic cancer at an early stage. The device still has to undergo clinical testing and trials before it can win regulatory approval."

Comments

yawn

[jDeepbeep]

The device still has to undergo clinical testing and trials before it can win regulatory approval."

Meanwhile.... 14 years later...

Re:yawn

[the4thdimension]

Indeed. This thing is a LONG way off. By the time they get this out the door to hospitals for use, someone will have an instant test coming out and we should just be fast-tracking that.

I work for a company that makes such devices and clinical trials and testing are not even close to the last step. Clinical trials are the beta test, so to speak, and often mean you have months and months of bug fixing and documentation to do. Take a device intended to diagnose patients, and you can multiple that by years. Fourteen years might seem funny, but its actually somewhat accurate. My company has been working on a product for nine years now seeking US approval.