Finding Tumors

1999/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Medikuntza

When working on cancer treatment, doctors often have difficulty identifying the exact location of the tumor and differentiating cancer tissues from healthy ones.

However, from now on it seems that this work will be easier thanks to the ultrasound technique called HEI. The technique is based on changes in electrical parameters that occur in the tissues affected by tumors. To do this, the body is placed in the hard magnetic field, oscillating electrical pulses are emitted through this field and the results obtained with the ultrasound receiver are analyzed.

The analysis of the intensity and phase difference of the signals received after crossing the body allows obtaining a three-dimensional image of the tissue and, therefore, an exact location of the tumor to subsequently perform stricter biopsies. For the moment, only scanners have been carried out for manual use, but they hope that after a year it will be done to study the whole body.