Durham University spin-out, Kromek, has secured a $4m contract from the US National Institute for Health to develop 3D breast-scanning technology.
Over the next four years, Kromek will be working with Massachusetts University Medical School to commercialise a system that will provide earlier and more accurate diagnosis of breast cancer.
Currently, X-ray mammography is the most popular method of breast screening. One of its limitations, however, is that it represents 3D information on a 2D plane making varied tissue structures difficult to distinguish.
According to a report published last year in Denmark, one in three breast cancer cases diagnosed by mammography can be harmless and lead to women needlessly undergoing invasive treatment.
By using X-ray animation technology developed for baggage screening applications, Kromek’s system can construct an image that consists of 3D spatial information and multi-spectral detail.
‘The real benefits these detectors bring are the possibility of reducing the dosage the patient receives and enhancing the contrast in imaging,’ said chief executive, Arnab Basu. ‘It will allow better differentiation of various tissue structures and provide material-specific information within these structures.’
According to Kromek, this is the first time this type of data set has been produced in an X-ray imaging system. The company has traditionally been involved in the development of security systems based on radiation detection, but claims this technology will be valuable in a range of sectors.
‘We strongly believe that colour 3D X-ray technology will be a dominate technology over the next decade in multiple industries,’ added Basu. ‘We are now going into the medical industry with this programme…our expectation is that at the end of the project we will have a complete working system available.’
Question: Will this improve the diagnosis of Breast Cancer in Pre-menaposal women? This is an area where far greater fatalities occur due the the fact that the breast tissue in younger women is much more dense and therefore the cancer is often masked by the tissue, until the cancer has progressed and released secondaries into the lymph and blood systems.
Dear Sir’s As it is now possible to detect smal (1mm x3mm) shards of glass in glass containers full of drink or food by using dual beam x-ray systems with modern high gain silicon detectors it should be possible without too much enginering detect tekture differences in young breasts.
I think this is amazing. My wife is fighting Triple Negative Breast Cancer that has Mets to the lungs. If this technology was available 3 years ago she might not have to be fighting it now. Keep up the research….let’s beat this desease.