Women Cancer Health Treatment

A new technique has been developed at Singapore’s National University Hospital to detect cancer in its earliest stages by a new non-invasive method, the Channel NewsAsia reported on Friday. The hospital is conducting a trial involving 58 patients, 12 of whom are receiving treatment after the ‘optical biopsy’ diagnosed them with early-stage cervical cancer. The technique detects pre-cancers or collections of a few hundred malignant cells among millions of healthy cells. Using the near-infrared fluorescence imaging, doctors may soon spot cancer risks before any physical signs, causing cancer cells to emit fluorescence.

In announcing the new technique, a researcher told Channel News Asia, “Since we use the near-infrared red light, there’s much better penetration into the tissue. Near-infrared red is a biologically transparent light so it is quite safe for human cells and tissues.” “However, near-infrared rays also produce a weak signal and it may take hours to get a reading - something which the NUS team had overcome with a hardware they had designed and are fine tuning,” the researcher added.

Early results from 31 of the cervical cancer screenings show a good level of accuracy, with a rate of 94 per cent sensitivity and 100 per cent specificity. Dr Huang said this is very promising, and could complement routine Pap smears, which are not sensitive to pre-cancer and can only monitor cell changes over time. NIR imaging however, can give an accurate diagnosis in real-time.
The diagnosis of lung cancer with this technology is superior to current tests, with 94 per cent sensitivity compared to 50 to 60 per cent in clinical screening. It will take two years or more for the technology to hit the market, said Dr Huang, as more trials are needed to build a reliable database.
The current probe also has to be redesigned to be smaller and more flexible, so that it can be used to screen the whole body, he added.
Imaging to spot pre-cancerous cells before they turn life-threatening developed at NUS.