New weapon in cancer battle

Dr Ray Simpkin with the breast screening machine that can locate much smaller growths than a mammogram. Picture / Paul Estcourt

New breast screening technology that can detect tumours earlier than conventional mammography is being tested in Auckland.

Developed locally by Industrial Research scientist Dr Ray Simpkin, breast radar imaging has already been used on seven women as part of an early pilot trial at St Marks Women's Health in Remuera.

Although the technology is still a number of years away from appearing in hospitals and clinics, early data has proven promising, showing cancers that mammograms have already detected.

The next step, said Dr Simpkin, is to test its detection of much smaller tumours. The technology allows for the detection of tumours as small as 1mm in diameter, a quarter of the size of the smallest tumours found by existing mammograms and ultrasounds. By that size, tumours are already up to 10 years old.

The technology uses radar waves to build up a 3D image of the breast, enabling doctors to better pinpoint the location of cancerous tumours than from readings of 2D x-rays.

Radar can also give up to a 500 per cent contrast between healthy breast tissue and a tumour, compared with a 2 per cent difference with x-ray. Dr Simpkin said this means the technology allows more precise detection in younger women. As breast tissue is denser, the contrast with a tumour is not as easily detectable with an x-ray.

Industrial Research commercialisation manager Margot Rothwell said breast radar imaging does not require breast compression, so is also more comfortable.

It is the first in a new generation of tumour diagnostics, said Ms Rothwell. None are on the market as yet. The prototype at St Marks means New Zealand is ahead of the competition in getting the technology commercialised, although it is still "a number of years" before women may be able to access the technology.

The crown research institute is seeking external investment of $3 million to undertake the next stage of prototype development and trials, which will include a larger trial involving 100 women in Australia and New Zealand.

The potential worldwide market for this technology has been estimated at about $500 million a year.

Breast cancer is the leading cause of death among New Zealand women, with a toll of over 600 every year.