Sistema para Triagem de Cancro de Mama com Ondas de Radio (UNSEEN)
Type: National Project Project
Duration: from 2018 May 21 to 2022 May 20
Financed by: POR Lisboa (FEDER) e FCT
Prime Contractor: R - INESC-ID Lisboa (Other) - Lisboa, Portugal
Cancer screening refers to early tests with the goal to detect malignant tissues before a person has any of the disease symptoms, making it easier to treat or cure. First line of screening tests are based solely in observation or palpable inspection for lumps or anything that seems unusual. Second line of screening tests already involve laboratory procedures on samples of tissue, blood or urine. Only when suspicions arise, imaging procedures as x-rays (high energy radiation), ultrasound (high-energy sound waves), and radioactive substances are used. These require nocive, expensive and equipment only available at large hospital units. Radio waves have less energy and are being considered as a future serious option to X-ray mammography. Developments in microelectronics, in nanosensors, and in ultra-wideband (UWB) radio signals showed that these technologies have excellent properties to originate a portable, low-cost, non-invasive, not-harmful, breast cancer screening system. The principle behind the proposed approach is that healthy and malignant tissues exhibit abrupt variations of electric permittivity allowing UWB microwave imaging for detecting breast cancer to be effective.
Partnerships
- R - INESC MN (Other) - Lisbon, Portugal
- R - INESC-ID Lisboa (Other) - Lisboa, Portugal