Director of the UC Irvine’s Beckman Laser Institute – Bruce Tromberg and assistant researcher Albert Cerussi have developed a Handheld Laser Breast Scanner (LBS) Instrument for better detection and diagnosis of breast cancer that can tremendously enhance the treatment and quality of life for breast cancer patients.
UCI Laser Breast Scanner Instrument |
Image courtesy – UCI Beckman Laser Institute
The Handheld Breast Imaging Device employs a sophisticated new technology based on the principle of frequency domain photon migration that watches the scattering and absorption of laser light as it moves through the tissue and can produces a metabolic spectral fingerprint of each patient that helps in accurately distinguishing between malignant and benign growths of the tumor and thus providing a way to tell whether those breast tumors require aggressive treatment or not.
The UCI Laser Breast Scanner can also be really helpful in evaluating the effectiveness of chemotherapy and adjusting its dosage based on how a patient responds to the treatment as it can supply detailed metabolic information by measuring hemoglobin, fat and water content, as well as tumor oxygen consumption and tissue density during the entire course of the treatment.