Features: Feb. 18, 2002

Improving Breast Cancer Detection

	The new ACT4 technology will screen breast cancer in the same manner that an earlier version of ACT images the lung.

David Isaacson, Rensselaer mathematics professor who specializes in medical imaging, is developing a better screening method for breast cancer.

Knowing that tumors conduct electricity five to 10 times more readily than regular tissue, Isaacson and his team of researchers set out to develop the Fourth Generation Adaptive Current Tomograph (ACT4). The system will deliver real-time images of the electrical state of the body's interior from measurements made on the exterior.

Using electrodes applied to the outside of the breast, currents are transmitted through the area in question. A computer measures and records the voltages required to push the current through the tissue. A mathematical algorithm is used to reconstruct and display the internal conductivity in color or as a gray scale on a screen.

Hospitals have used a related method called electrical impedance spectroscopy, or EIS, used in conjunction with a mammogram. On an EIS screen, a healthy breast will show up as a uniform dark area, while a tumor is displayed as a light spot on the screen.