Low-Cost Cancer Detection Method Developed by IIT-Ropar

IIT-Ropar developed low-cost cancer-detection method and plans to extend the in vivo experiments for determining early skin cancer collaborating with medical institutes. Early stage cancer detection is done using Dynamic Thermal Imaging (DTI) in a simple clinical setting.

Causes Cancer in India
  • Challenging to detect skin cancer at an early stage as it is not accompanied by lump formation- hence skin cancer cannot be detected using simple imaging systems.
  • Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology Ropar (IIT) achieved success in developing cost-effective method for detecting skin cancer at early stage.
  • Key idea behind the research is to exploit the difference between thermal properties of cancer and blood making few features appear at the skin surface quickly than the other under the DTI setting.
  • Surface of the skin is cooled with the help of cold gel pack short time and then allowed to recover from cold stress under stabilized room condition.
  • Changes in the temperature distribution are recorded as images and videos using a thermal camera.
  • Recorded images and videos are analyzed for differential changes in the thermal contrast between healthy and cancerous regions.
  • The team is using DTI for detection of small size mimicking tumor in the tissue phantom with subsurface vascular structures.

How is Skin Cancer Detected Today?

  • Diagnosed by physical examination and biopsy.
  • In biopsy, a part or all of the spot is removed and sent to a laboratory.
  • In India with limited health infrastructure obtaining results from biopsy could take long time.
  • The new technique uses simpler clinical setting.

Prevalence of Cancer in India

  • According to the National Cancer Registry Programme of the India Council of Medical Research (ICMR) : Cancer takes 1300 Indian lives every day.
  • Between 2012 and 2014, the mortality rate due to cancer increased by approximately 6% .
  • 491,598 people died in 2014 out of 2820,179 cases.
  • Incidence and mortality of cancer highest in the North Eastern states.
  • Breast cancer most prevalent and stomach cancer is leading cause of death.
  • Breast cancer and lung cancer kill the most Indian women and Indian men respectively.

Examrace Team at Aug 21, 2021