|
 An affordable breast cancer detection device using NIR has produced its prototype and finished human body simulation test. Coordinated by Prof. Yonhua Tzeng,Vice President for Research and Development, this smart device is developed by the NCKU research team including Prof. Britton Chance and Prof. Shoko Nioka both of Institute of Innovation and Advanced Studies (IIAS), Prof. Julia Chung of Department of Electrical Engineering, Prof. Dar-Bin Shieh of Institute of Oral Medicine, Prof. Jeng-Ruey Horng (Southern Taiwan University), Dean Chyi-Her Lin of College of Medicine, Prof. Chao-Ching Huang of Institute of Molecular Medicine, and Dr. Lily Cheng of Department of Radiology. The leader Prof. Chance said that NCKU is the most efficient institution which can transform his lifetime scientific achievements into a medical device which can benefit all humans.
 The NIR breast cancer early detection and warning device employs 650-1050 nm light sources which can pass human tissues and detect potential cancerous cells. Due to variation in oxygen consumption rate, cancerous cells display abnormal scattering phenomenon. Exploiting this feature, the miniature version of hospital exam device can detect cancer cells by using a NIR light source LED consisting 7 different wavelength lights, light detectors sensing the light reflected from human tissues, an amplifier to amplify weak human body signals, a sample and hold part to keep the signals for processing, a low pass filter to reduce noise, an ADC DSP chip to process the data, a LCD panel to display the results and a SD card to store the results for further use.
This device is non-invasive, affordable and handy. Women can use it for check-up at home even with their clothes on!
The prototype will be tested in hospitals, medical colleges and universities around the world. After these clinical trials it can be commercialized to benefit all people. This technology can be made more flexible to be applied to brain cancer detection, glucose detection, etc. If its sensitivity and signal analysis functions can be strengthened, deeper abnormalities can also be detected with such device.
With extensive work a prototype is finished during Dr. Chance's 3 weeks long stay at NCKU from March 20 to April 10.
 
Helen Chang The Banyan Editorial Office
Photography by Ting-Wei Chen NCKU News Center
|
|
