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BIOTECHNOLOGY
Improving Breast Cancer Detection
David Isaacson, Rensselaer mathematics professor
who specializes in medical imaging, is developing an additional
screening method for breast cancer.
“ACT4 probably won’t replace a
mammogram, but it may provide an improvement. The nature of
tumors is that there are lots of different kinds. Physicians
need a variety of methods to get the best diagnosis.”
—David Isaacson—
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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.
ACT4 would most likely be used in conjunction
with a mammogram.
“ACT4 probably won’t replace a mammogram,
but it may provide an improvement,” says Isaacson, who conducts
research in applied mathematics. “The nature of tumors is
that there are lots of different kinds. Physicians need a variety
of methods to get the best diagnosis.”
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, 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.
Isaacson’s device goes one step further.
The computed distributions provide a colorful 3-D image of the
tissue and fluids inside the breast.
CONTACT: Theresa Bourgeois, (518) 276-2840,
bourgt@rpi.edu
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