New research: A portable, non-invasive way to detect oral cancer

What is the News?

Scientists from IIT Kharagpur have developed a portable, user-friendly and non-invasive device for detecting Oral Cancer.

What is Oral Cancer?

Oral Cancer also known as mouth cancer is cancer of the lining of the lips, mouth, or upper throat.

Oral Cancer remains one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in socially-challenged and underserved communities. 

There is an 80% chance on average of a five-year survival rate if diagnosed early; the survival rate drops to 65% or less in more advanced stages of the disease. In reality, most oral cancers remain undetected until they have reached an advanced stage.

Moreover, there is a serious dearth of accurate yet affordable diagnostic tools to detect oral cancer in the precancer or early cancer stages.

What have the researchers developed for Oral Cancer?

Researchers have developed a low-cost, handheld imaging device to screen oral cancer and precancer based on the measured change in blood flow rate of the tissue from thermal imaging and analytics.

Source: This post is based on the article ‘New research: A portable, non-invasive way to detect oral cancer’ published in Indian Express on 29th January 2022.