Science fiction such as Star Trek popularized the tricorder, a handheld detector that can gather readings from the environment or even diagnose disease. Today, Stanford engineers is currently testing a tricorder device that might be able to spot fast-growing tumors detailed in Applied Physics Letters and presented at the International Ultrasonics Symposium in Taipei, Taiwan. The new touchless ultrasound technology could possibly provide a new way to detect early stage cancers in the future.
How It Works
The work, led by Assistant Professor Amin Arbabian and Research Professor Pierre Khuri-Yakub, combines mild microwaves with sensitive ultrasound to create a safe and portable way detect hidden objects. All materials expand and contract when stimulated with electromagnetic energy, such as light or microwaves.
As a result of this contraction, ultrasound waves are produced that travels to the surface and can be detected remotely.Medical research has shown that tumors grow additional blood vessels to nourish their cancerous growth. Blood vessels absorb heat differently than surrounding tissue allowing tumors to potentially show up as ultrasound hotspots.
“We think we could develop instrumentation sufficiently sensitive to disclose the presence of tumors, and perhaps other health anomalies, much earlier than current detection systems, non-intrusively and with a handheld portable device,” Arbabian told Stanford News.
Stanford researchers also believe that their microwave and ultrasound detection system will be have greater mobility and less expensive than other medical imaging devices such as MRI or CT, and safer than X-rays.
