Taking a Quick Swipe at Cancer: A new handheld scanner may mean patients being screened for cancer will no longer have to cram into the narrow tunnel of an MRI or CT scanner for a grueling 40-minute exam -- the patient won't even need to undress. The doctor will simply swipe a 30-centimeter baton over the patient's body, and information on any irregular tissue will be displayed on a computer screen. In five minutes the exam is over. [...]
The baton houses an antenna that produces microwaves that vary in frequency from 400 MHz to 1,350 MHz. When the microwaves hit a tumor, the tumor resonates at about 400 MHz, producing a signal that interferes with the original signal from the baton.
"They (the tumors) seem to be in a less ordered, less organized, less cohesive state" than normal tissue, said TRIMprob's project leader, Dr. Massimo Balma, in an e-mail interview. "When they are in this disordered state, they are able to answer to the TRIM field."
