A miniature camera as thin as a few strands of human hair may help to revolutionize the treatment of breast cancer by enabling doctors to see exactly what is going on inside the breast. The camera, called the Lifeline Breast Micro-Endoscope™, is inserted into the breast through the nipple. When in place, the camera then sends magnified images of the inside of milk ducts to a video monitor. Changes in the cells that line the milk ducts can occur as early as ten years before a lump or tumor becomes evident. The camera will enable doctors to spot these very early pre-cancerous changes, enabling them to take action before the disease is able to progress. “In the next three to four years it may be possible to prevent many breast cancers altogether,’ said Dr. Nicholas Beechey-Newman, one of the first doctors in Europe to use the camera. Dr Beechey-Newman also believes that the camera will render breast biopsies obsolete.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Reported by www.reutershealth.com on the 19th October 2001
