Swedish researchers at Chalmers University are developing new techniques of cancer diagnosis and treatment that utilize the power of microwaves. One method is an alternative to mammography. The other method aims to treat tumors by heating the cancer cells. Eventually, they hope to combine the two methods into one system that detects and treats tumors directly — an example of a growing area of research called theranostics, integration of treatment and diagnosis in a single system (therapeutics + diagnostics).
Microwaves can be used to create medical images — a technique known as microwave tomography. The first method offers several advantages over mammography, i.e. using X-rays to detect breast cancer. "Unlike X-rays, the technique also emits negligible doses of non-ionizing radiation — less than a hundredth of the radiation to which you are exposed when talking on a mobile phone," said Andreas Fhager, Associate Professor of Biomedical Electromagnetics at Chalmers, who developed the system.
The idea is to use the technique in conjunction with a treatment couch, equipped with holes for the breasts, to which 30 or so antennas required by the examination are connected. The researchers expect the method will be more comfortable and less expensive for patients, compared to mammography.
In the second project, the microwaves are actually being used to destroy tumors by heating them, a process known as hyperthermia. Clinical studies show that treatment with conventional radiotherapy and chemotherapy in combination with hyperthermia may double the long-term ability to cure certain forms of cancer, such as cervical cancer and soft-tissue sarcoma.
Ultimately, the team hopes to be able to combine both methods — as soon as a tumor is detected, the already-connected antennas could be used to start treating the tumor directly while at the same time monitoring that the right tissue is heated up. The method may also be applicable to other parts of the both, including head and neck.
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