Low-cost cancer detection method shows promise

As the potential cancer population increases, an effective long-term solution for early cancer detection needs to be found. In some areas of the world, cancer incidence is growing by 3% per annum, and the cost of cancer care is a ticking time bomb for global healthcare expenditure.

According to the latest research from Frost & Sullivan, a novel approach to cancer diagnostics is on the rise, capable of targeting a specific organ or region of interest and enabling refined and high-resolution image capture and analysis. Bioholotomography (BHT) is a technology that acquires, for diagnostic purposes, holographic information on any affected region of the body using only surface readings. This low-cost imaging technique does not require any exposure to ionizing radiation and is the technology behind a device called the Cancer Instant Detector (CID) developed by Advanced Bioresearch & Technology, together with the Center of Bioholography, based in Tbilisi, Georgia. Detection of cancer at its earliest possible stages remains the best strategy for improving cancer patients’ quality of life and reducing cancer deaths. Yet the majority of cancers have no obvious symptoms in their early development stages and may not be detected unless an individual arrives for a routine checkup at the physician office or as part of a cancer screening program.

“The CID incorporates a simplified and portable device that can rapidly capture diagnostic-quality information capable of revealing physiological anomalies,” said research analyst Prasanna Vadhana Kannan, from Frost & Sullivan’s Technical Insights Group, which has been tracking the development of the technology since 2005. “Through CID, a full-body scan is accomplished by noninvasive examination of induced emissions from the fingertips.”

Using the CID as a detection tool, the probability of cancer, its location within a predefined body segment, and its degree of aggressiveness can be determined and displayed within seconds.

“The entire noninvasive procedure with a CID lasts only a few minutes and is harmless for patients, operators, and the environment,” said Dr. Marina Shaduri, founder of the Center of Bioholography.

The newly developed imaging technique has demonstrated significant degrees of reliability and validity both in everyday practice and in a controlled clinical study. The device can potentially be used anywhere in the world for mass screening and monitoring at-risk patients or to evaluate patients who have undergone treatment.

“Any doctor would benefit from this new option of diagnostics, since the CID would detect cancer at early stages in a user-friendly way,” Dr. Shaduri said.

With technologies like BHT that are based on the evaluation of the entire human body, the search for proper therapies targeting cancer might be accelerated tremendously, since the development and testing of new drugs, including cancer drugs, would be less costly and time-consuming. The technology of recording and analyzing biological holograms provides a valuable new kind of information on the human body.

“By using the CID in association with established imaging modalities, unnecessary biopsies and surgery could be avoided. Such a modality might be used for both the detection of cancer and the monitoring of a patient’s condition in order to evaluate the efficiency of any therapeutic procedure or drug,” Kannan said.