Tech for Tumors
Wearable health monitoring devices are all the buzz nowadays. Researchers from Stanford Univeristy developed a wearable device, that is capable of measuring size change in cancerous tumors.
Traditionally, tumors are diagnosed and measured using diagnostic imaging like x-rays, CT and MRI. This brings about certain limitations as it involves major human intervention and high costs during the diagnosis. This brought about the need for an easily accessible wearable health monitoring device that monitors the regression of cancerous tumors.
How does it work?
This wearable device is known as FAST- Flexible Autonomous Sensor measuring Tumors. It consists of a skin-like membrane made out of polymer embedded with a gold circuit. The sensor in the device latches onto the tumor to give out details, including size. It runs on a pack of batteries, making it very accessible.
It’s a fully automated device that comes along with its mobile app from where doctors can fetch live and past measurement data of the patient. This makes the diagnosis process faster and more cost-effective.
It works on the principles of construction and relaxation measuring, the sensor stretches or contracts when the tumor grows or shrinks. The device measures the strain that the sensor goes through.
What do the experts say?
Oncologists and researchers are particularly intrigued about this non-invasive piece of equipment that can single-handedly revolutionize cancer diagnosis and treatment. But its accuracy and consistency among several patients are being scrutinized. An in-depth investigation and large-scale clinical trials are very much needed in this type of technology.
