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New Device May Speed Breast Cancer Diagnosis

By Henry J. Fishman, M.D.
ConsumerAffairs.com

January 18, 2006

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A small, lightweight device using electrical current may someday help detect early breast cancer. The device is called the Z-Tech experimental breast cancer detection system.

It's made by a company called Z-Tech. The device consists of a small center ring, a sensor about an inch across surrounded by seven spokes.

The spokes generate small amounts of electricity which pass through the breast tissue to the sensors, which are computerized.

To use the devices, a woman would go to her doctor's office and lie on an examination table for about 15 minutes. The device is placed on the breasts and turned on. Electricity passes through the breast to the sensor.

Cancerous tissues carrier electricity more easily than healthy tissue, so the sensors can tell low-resistance tumors from high-resistance healthy tissue. This can help pick up tumors before they have a clear shape or before a mammogram can.

The new device will be tested thoroughly over the next 18 months at 16 U.S. sites and may someday help doctors detect early tumors and help combat the epidemic of breast cancer.

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