Quick test for breast cancer

Researchers have developed a new device that can deliver quick results during diagnosis for breast cancer while reducing the need for biopsies and other invasive procedures.

The technique is detailed in the current issue of The Lancet. It uses electronic sensors which can be applied to the breast and can detect the very small differences in the way that breast tissue, benign tumours and malignant tumours respond to electrical signals sent through the skin.

Current diagnosis after discovery of a lump in the breast usually involves taking an x-ray or ultrasound image. A biopsy will then be needed to confirm the presence of a malignancy. This involves inserting a needle into the lump to retrieve tissues for study. The new method was tried on 661 women in hospitals in Europe and the US, and these results were checked using conventional diagnostic methods. The technique proved useful in helping to screen out women with benign growths who did not then need biopsies.

The new diagnostic tool is worth examination if it can help reduce delays for women awaiting test results according to Prof Niall O'Higgins, Professor of Surgery at UCD and President of the Federation of European Cancer Societies. Modern breast clinics were designed, however, to be a "one stop shop" which included all of the diagnostic skills necessary to give very quick test results.

"That is the growing trend, to give a result as fast as possible," he said, eliminating the "unconscionable delays" of the past. A single diagnostic device was unable to give an absolute diagnosis of malignancy, however, and this would always require more comprehensive testing, he said.