A GALWAY research team is working on new wireless imaging technology for breast cancer detection that could offer an effective alternative to traditional X-ray mammography.
The technology is based on a type of radar that forms an image of the tissue where tumours may be easier to detect and, according to the researchers, may open up the possibility of detecting smaller tumours at an earlier stage.
The research is being carried out by Dr Edward Jones, a lecturer in the Department of Electronic Engineering at NUI Galway, along with Dr Martin Glavin and a team of electronic engineering researchers.
The group is also affiliated to the Bioelectronics Cluster at NUI Galway's National Centre for Biomedical Engineering Science.
Dr Jones pointed out that the research - which is funded by Science Foundation Ireland as well as the Irish Research Council for Science, Engineering and Technology (IRCSET) - is only in the first stages.
"It's early days yet, and the group is currently trying to get some idea of how effective this technology would be, largely through computer simulation," he said. "Discussions have already been held with clinicians as to how useful something like this might be in a clinical setting, and what practical patient-related issues really need to be considered, and it will be a number of years before the technology could be used in a trial with real patients.
Dr Jones said that in simple terms, UWB is a form of radar where pulses are used to "illuminate" the tissue, and the resulting "echoes" are processed to extract information about the make-up of the tissue, in particular, the possible presence of tumours - in much the same way as aircraft or seaborne radar looks for targets.
"These echoes are analysed using digital signal processing techniques to extract information about the possible presence of tumours, which is displayed in the form of an image of the tissue. The technology has a number of potential advantages that make it an attractive alternative to X-ray mammography for breast cancer screening.
"Firstly, it exposes the patient to extremely low levels of wireless energy - less than they would be exposed to from using their mobile phones - and so is useful from the point of view of permitting more frequent scanning of the patient.
"In addition, the technology may be able to provide much better image quality, opening up the possibility of detecting smaller tumours at an earlier growth stage," he said.
Dr Jones pointed out that a great deal of research had been carried out by groups elsewhere on the physical differences between tumours compared with normal breast tissue.
The NUI Galway researchers are trying to exploit these differences to produce a picture of the breast in which potential tumours will be more prominent - much as X-ray mammography does, but using very different techniques.
