 "Photo: Courtesy of Fermiscan")
Technology has brought us a long way since the discovery of the DNA strand and the invention of antibiotics. Now, technology will take us in a whole new direction in the quest for convenient and effective medicine.
A new technology produced from down under in Australia gives women the chance to detect breast cancer without the inconveniences of mammograms or ultrasounds. Fermiscan technology can analyze follicles of a patient's hair and compare them to that of someone with breast cancer using an X-ray.
Recent recipient of the 2008 Australian Innovator of the Year, Fermiscan Limited is an Australian company on a mission to continue the work of Italian-born and Nobel Prize recipient Enrico Fermi. Fermi made vast developments in the area of high-energy particle physics.
It was through his passion for this technology that Fermi was able to develop the technology and design of a synchrotron when he later came to conduct research at the University of Chicago. Thus synchrotron was referred to as the world's biggest "atom smasher," and it is this technology that is implemented in Fermiscan's new technology that will hopefully assist women in the struggle against breast cancer.
"The Fermiscan Test has the potential to provide a fast and accurate adjunct to existing technologies for the detection of breast cancer in women of all ages. The recently completed validation trial (2,000 patients) demonstrated a level of accuracy of around 70 percent...The test potential provides early detection of breast cancer with benefits for women's health including increased survival and treatment options," according to the Fermiscan Web site, www.fermiscan.com.au.
Although the technology is still in testing stages, Fermiscan has high hopes for its innovative design. Patients have a piece of hair taken from their head and the hair strand is then directly placed under an extremely focused beam of X-ray. Diffracted X-rays are then fed back to specialists as images so they can then analyze and compare them to hair molecules that contain or do not contain the breast cancer strand. A synchrotron, a device often larger than a football field, is used to produce the X-ray beams.
The test is targeted toward women of all ages and its ability to conduct such a screening without the use of a harmful mammogram or ultrasound is what makes this developing technology a sought after device.
"This test, unlike alternatives, is non-invasive and is suitable for all women. Preliminary data indicated that it may also provide early detection of breast cancer," the Fermiscan Web site states.
Although this technology is something that is still in its early testing stages, it has received much attention since its conception. The Fermiscan has allowed women to hope for a procedure that will detect breast cancer much sooner than current methods and is as simple as getting a hair cut.
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