Faster Results for Breast Cancer

Reported February 2006

TUCSON, Ariz. (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Every three minutes a woman is diagnosed with breast cancer but getting the diagnosis can be a long, drawn-out process. Now, a new test shortens the wait time for breast cancer diagnosis from weeks to hours.

"They saw a swollen lymph node under my arm," says cancer survivor, Audrey Dickinson. "The hardest time is when you get the call from the doctor saying there's something suspicious"

Cancer survivor, Donna Lindsay says, "He said, 'Ms. Lindsay, don't want you to panic, but we've found some shadows on your mammogram.'" Donna was just one of the women who got the call saying she may have cancer. She needed an invasive biopsy to find out for sure.

Ronald S. Weinstein, M.D., a pathologist at the University of Arizona in Tucson, says, "I am acutely aware of how stressed out women become when they're waiting for the results of a biopsy." Dr. Weinstein and Ana López are working together to cut down the wait time for breast cancer diagnosis.

The ultra-rapid virtual scanner gives pathologists a quicker way to break down a biopsy. No pathologist or special lab is needed for the test, just the machine. On top of the microscopes, a 24-megapixel camera captures multiple images. Then the photos are digitally transmitted immediately over the Internet.

"If a patient comes in here at 11 o'clock in the morning, by 3 o'clock in the afternoon, they'll have gotten a diagnosis," Dr. Weinstein says.

Dr. Weinstein says the new cancer scanner can be used for any type of cancer and the results can be seen worldwide in an instant over the Internet.

Click here to Go Inside This Science or contact:

The University of Arizona
Arizona Health Sciences Center
1501 N Campbell Ave
Tucson, AZ 85724
(520) 694-0111

For more information about optical microscopes contact:

Optical Society of America
2010 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20036.1023
(202) 223-8130
info@osa.org

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