With cancer being a major cause of death in the world today, more and more research is producing potential solutions to this deadly disease.
An
innovative early disease detection system that uses the sense of smell is going
mobile.
The NaNose breathalyzer technology developed by Professor Hossam
Haick of the Technion will soon be installed in a mobile phone – to be called,
appropriately, the SniffPhone. A tiny smell-sensitive sensor will be installed
onto a phone add-on, and using specially designed software, the phone will be
able to “smell” users’ breath to determine if they have cancer, among
other serious diseases.
By
identifying the special “odor” emitted by cancer cells, the NaNose system can
detect the presence of tumors, both benign and malignant, more quickly,
efficiently and cheaply than previously possible, said Haick.
“Current
cancer diagnosis techniques are ineffective and impractical,” he said. NaNose
technology, he said, “could facilitate faster therapeutic intervention,
replacing expensive and time-consuming clinical follow-up that would eventually
lead to the same intervention.”
According
to research done by Haick’s team, the NaNose system has a 90 percent accuracy
rate.
The
smartphone device is just a vehicle to implement the NaNose technology that can
be taken anywhere and used in any circumstances, including in rural areas of
the developing world where bringing in sophisticated testing equipment is
impossible.
“The SniffPhone is a winning solution. It will
be made tinier and cheaper than disease detection solutions currently, consume
little power, and most importantly, it will enable immediate and early
diagnosis that is both accurate and non-invasive,” said Haick. “Early
diagnosis can save lives, particularly in life-threatening diseases such as
cancer.”
For the full story see http://www.timesofisrael.com/mobile-sniffphone-will-detect-cancer-on-a-users-breath/#ixzz3QrKnNPQK
No comments:
Post a Comment