Applications:
More than 200,000 women are diagnosed annually with breast cancer. It is one of the most feared cancers for women, and leads to more than 40,000 deaths per year. Detecting breast cancer in its early stages is critical to initiating therapy and improving clinical outcomes. Microwave imaging has long been suggested as a promising modality in the early detection of breast cancer.
More than two decades ago, supported by grants from National Institutes of Health (“NIH”) and NASA, MMS® began conducting research and development into a system that would employ passive, non-invasive radiometric sensing to measure the electromagnetic energy that is naturally emitted from the human body. Like infrared thermography, the use of microwave radiometry in cancer detection is based on the assumption that a temperature difference exists between a tumor and its surrounding tissue. In a process known as “angiogenesis”, the body automatically sends blood to surround a tumor, creating the temperature difference. Since angiogenesis precedes tumor growth and metastasis, the determination of thermal activity would provide a means of early detection.
MMS®’ system, known as ONCOSCAN™, is a small, low-cost, hand-held device that is passive, non-invasive, and totally painless. The development of the ONCOSCAN™ System is presented in detail in the chapter article “Thermography -- Radiometric Sensing in Medicine”, in New Frontiers in Medical Technology, Chapter 10, pps 311-342, John Wiley & Sons, New York, July 1995. Clinical studies have been conducted at Emerson Hospital in Concord, MA, and at Tufts New England Medical Center (“NEMC”), Boston, MA, to determine the effectiveness of the ONCOSCAN™ System, when used with patients referred for breast biopsy as a result of an abnormal or an indeterminate finding on a mammogram.
In 2010, at the American Society of Breast Cancer Surgeons Proceedings, a presentation detailing the results of a multi-year clinical study at NEMC was presented by the head of NEMC’s Breast Cancer Department. The poster, entitled “Microwave Thermography as an Adjunct to Standard Breast Imaging” (2010 Ryan, Graham, Burow, et al) concluded that ONCOSCAN™ appears to be a promising technology as an adjunct to current breast cancer imaging techniques.
Non-Invasive: Early Breast Cancer Detection ONCOSCAN™ Page 2 MMS® continues its development of the ONCOSCAN™ System, with new Intellectual Property established around the modified system. Our belief is that additional evidence will support ONCOSCAN™’s utility as a valued means of early breast cancer screening in a physician’s office, and eventually in the privacy of the home, complementing self or care-giver palpation exams.
For further information, please contact info@mms-llc.com