HUGE NEWS after the bell from Canada!
Laser offers alternative to mammogram for detecting breast cancer
Thu Jan 27 17:09:00 EST 2000
TORONTO, Jan 27, 2000 (The Canadian Press via COMTEX) -- Mammograms may
soon be replaced by laser technology to detect breast cancer.
A Toronto company, Cycle of Life Technologies, has landed a
distribution deal with the American developers of a new laser
mammography system.
However, the technology, which takes mammograms without compression or
radiation, still needs regulatory approval in the United States and
Canada.
``The clarity is tenfold more (than traditional mammography),' said
company president Lee-Anne Gibbs.
And where traditional mammography only reads the sections of the breast
the machine can squeeze, the laser system reads the entire breast
including the upper quadrant, which includes the lymph nodes, Gibbs
said.
Cancer cells are highlighted on the screen, eliminating the need for a
biopsy in almost all cases.
And results are available faster, since no radiologist is required to
read results, which are stored on a CD-ROM and can go directly to the
doctor, she said.
``You know instantaneously this way (if there are any cancer cells),'
she added. ``There's no more discomfort (and) no more indignity.'
Women lie on a scanning bed and place a breast in a chamber. The laser
rotates 360 degrees around the breast, collecting data until the entire
breast is scanned.
Clinical trials are being conducted in Long Island, N.Y., and Virginia.
The studies will look at patients with specific abnormalities and
compare the laser results with current imaging methods, such as X-ray
mammograms, ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging.
For approval, results have to be the same as or better than traditional
mammography.
``Ours will also read through cosmetic surgery if there's leakage
traditional doesn't do it,' Gibbs said. And, if all goes as expected,
the technology will also be used to detect prostate cancer.
Gibbs' company has sole distribution rights for Canada, the Middle
East, South America, eastern Europe, South Africa and several western
European countries.
A Florida-based company, Imaging Diagnostic Systems Inc., developed the
technology. (Toronto Star)
Copyright (c) 1999 The Canadian Press (CP), All rights reserved.
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