THE ESSENTIAL
- The FAST device operates using batteries.
- So far, the FAST device has only been tested on mice.
There were 382,000 cases of cancer in France in 2018, according to Public health France. To ensure better patient follow-up, a team of researchers has developed a new tool that measures the size of the tumor in real time, to the nearest millimetre. Their work has been published in the journal Science Advances.
Measurement of tumor growth
This electronic device, called FAST for “Flexible Autonomous Sensor Measuring Tumors” (translate: flexible (and) autonomous sensor measuring tumors), is small and sticks to the skin. Thus positioned, it measures the growth of cancerous tumors and communicates the results to a smartphone application.
The authors believe that this new device would make it possible to better monitor the evolution of the tumor and therefore the effectiveness of anti-cancer drugs. All this in a fast, non-invasive and inexpensive way. Indeed, currently, the technologies for measuring tumor evolution from drug treatment take time and the results are long to obtain.
More effective than current cancer tracking methods
“In some cases, tumors under observation must be measured by hand with calipers“, explains Alex Abramson, one of the authors. The use of forceps-like metal calipers to measure soft tissue is not ideal, and radiological approaches cannot provide the kind of continuous data needed for real-time assessment. FAST can detect changes in tumor volume on a minute scale”.
According to the authors, there are three main advantages to their device. The first is to ensure continuous monitoring of the tumor and therefore of the evolution of the cancer. Then the sensor can identify and measure changes that are difficult to see with other methods.
A flexible and non-invasive device
Finally, FAST is a non-invasive method that is easy to install and does not require much action on the part of the wearer. It can also move without being hindered by the device. Especially since, and this is another great advance of this device, FAST is flexible which means that when it is stretched and then recontracted by the skin – by a movement for example -, it adapts so as not to distort the analysis of connected data.
Ultimately, this device might therefore make it possible to better monitor the effectiveness of cancer treatments for patients in real time, and thus provide information to doctors allowing them to adapt them as well as possible.
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