Clipping of news on Brazilian Culture, Law and Citizenship
17/08/2011
This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.
Researchers at the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland developed a new technique for diagnosing breast cancer. This new method can reveal structures that can not be seen using conventional mammography.
The current standard procedure based solely on the extent to which X-rays are attenuated by the structures of various tissues.
The new method also makes use of the fact that, like X-rays are actually waves, their properties change slightly when traveling through tissue.
These changes are measurable and are now helping in the creation of a more significant and greater resolution of the object under investigation.
The goal of any mammography is to detect breast tumors as early as possible so that treatment can begin on time.
Thus, it is expected that a good mammogram procedure recognizes the maximum possible tissue changes, clearly distinguishing tumor tissue from other tissue, detecting the smallest changes possible and avoiding false positives.
At the same time, the radiation dose administered during the examination should be kept as low as possible.
"For example, we use this new process to distinguish tumor tissue scarring, and identify extremely small nodules of cancer, of a size that would never be identified by current tests," said Dr Nik Hauser, who led the project on the medical side .
A clinical trial is currently underway, and should demonstrate the advantages of the new method in a larger group of patients.
For this reason, doctors not involved in the development of the new technique will have to make an independent evaluation of the advantages of the new images, compared with those obtained from conventional X-rays.
In this new procedure, X-rays pass through the breast exactly the same way as in a conventional mammography.
However, a normal X-ray image can only determine how the beam was retained by the fabric - basically, an X-ray image shows only the shadow cast by the object under investigation.
However, X-rays also undergo another subtle change as they travel through an object.
Physically, X-rays are electromagnetic waves, and as they pass through structures of different tissues, the direction of the waves changes slightly - an effect similar to what occurs with the waves crashing on the pillars of a pier in the harbor.
"We spent years developing methods to investigate these changes and interpret the information they contain, so we can create the basis for new research methods to be used in medical research and materials," explained Marco Stampanoni, team leader, project engineering .
Source: Prontuário de Noticias
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This article was translated by an automatic translation system, and was therefore not reviewed by people.