Mammograms can identify lumps that cause breast cancer. Paradoxically, this process exposes patients to radiation increasing the long-term risk of developing this same type of cancer. Canadian researchers have developed a promising technology combining artificial intelligence and microwaves.
In a press release published on February 24, 2020, a team from the University of Waterloo (Canada) shared their latest research. It is about a cheap and harmless technology intended to detect breast cancer. However, this unique system combines the analysis of an artificial intelligence (AI) and microwaves.
The current screening technique is none other than mammography . The latter is a modality of the medical image implementing radiography of the breasts (X-rays). Unfortunately, this technique is painful, expensive and has the particularity of increasing the risks of developing breast cancer in the long term.
X-rays and microwaves are part of the electromagnetic spectrum. If X-rays are able to give an image of the interior of the human body thanks to their low wavelength (between 0.03 and 10 nanometers), these are ionizing. In other words, they have the annoying tendency to remove electrons from the atoms they encounter. Their dangerousness is proven, it is for this reason that living beings should not be exposed to them too much. In the case of microwaves, the wavelength is much longer (1 mm). Thus, since their penetration power is weaker , the damage caused is minimal (except at very high doses).
Canadian researchers have developed a sensor that generates harmless microwaves . These are located in a 15 cm² box located under the examination table. The patient must therefore lie flat on her stomach and position her breast in the box. Inside, the microwaves generate a kind of "reflections" that an artificial intelligence analyzes. It is therefore not a question of imaging but of detection of anomaly . However, the system is able to identify anomalies whose size is less than one centimeter in diameter, and this by comparison with the structure of the tissues of the two breasts.
In the event of an alert, the doctor receives a recommendation to prescribe a complementary examination like mammography. Thus, this new technique makes it possible to avoid systematically performing mammography on patients. This therefore gives the possibility of not exposing them too much to X-rays and of achieving significant savings.
Source
Related Articles:
