Photoacoustic equipment for early detection of skin cancer

Researchers at the University of Missouri, USA, have successfully fabricated a photoacoustic (laser-based ultrasound-based) imaging device that detects (faster, cheaper than the current cancer screening) . Melanoma cells (Melanoma is the most aggressive skin cancer that spreads throughout the body) before tumors have the opportunity to form.

The photoacoustic device (which will be a desktop printer) will shine the laser light on the blood sample and the cancerous cells will be dilated (because the melanin present in the cancer cell will absorb the laser light). ), which helps doctors pinpoint the exact location of cancer cells and provide the most appropriate treatment.

Photoacoustic devices will be tested for two to three years in the hospital, with tests costing several hundred dollars.

At present, doctors still use computerized tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to detect malignant melanoma.