We really need more of those health-monitoring devices that are handy and usable allowing us to get the necessary info without driving over to a hospital, and here’s a gadget that seems to be of a primary importance for early detection of breast cancer from Nihon University. It’s portable and easy to use.
Based on the phase shift technology, the new detector doesn’t involve any pressure on the breasts. You just place the gadget against the skin and get the picture on the LCD at once. The detector gives off light at the wavelength of 850nm and measures it as it is reflected back. If there’s a cancerous area its thicker concentration of blood cells will absorb more light compared to intact areas and consequently will appear on the screen colored noticeably darker.
The sad news is that the helpful gadget is still being tested, and human tests haven’t even begun. So the university people cannot yet commit themselves to tell us when the detector is ready to go on sale, while there are sure to be a lot of people whose minds will be much calmer for possessing one.
