Toshiba said today that it has developed a technology to detect 13 types of cancer from a single drop of blood with 99% accuracy.
The revolutionary diagnostic method, developed in collaboration with the National Cancer Center Research Institute and Tokyo Medical University, begins to detect tumors in the first phase of experimentation in 2020. After the test series, it will be ready for marketing no sooner than three or four years.
"The diagnostic method could be used to promote early cancer treatment," reads a press release from the company.
How does Toshiba's diagnostic method work to detect tumors from a drop of blood?
The method is designed to examine the types and concentration of microRNA molecules secreted in the blood by cancer cells. Also other companies like the Toray Industries they developed technologies to diagnose and detect tumors using microRNA molecules from a blood sample, but never with this accuracy.
"Compared to the methods of other companies, we have an advantage in the degree of accuracy in detecting cancer, in the time required for detection and in costs."he said Koji Hashimoto, chief researcher of Toshiba's Frontier Research Laboratory at a press conference.
The diagnostic method will be used to detect gastric, esophageal, pulmonary, hepatic, biliary, pancreatic, intestinal, ovarian, prostate, bladder and breast cancers, for sarcoma and glioma.
Great promises of blood, in short, in a week already characterized by the start of the experimentation of "magnetic" blood cleaning method, which promises not to detect tumors but to eradicate them from the body.
Two hours and € 170
Toshiba has developed a chip and a small device capable of diagnosing and detecting tumors in less than two hours at a cost of 20.000 yen (about 170 euros) which could also drop further in the coming years.
Toshiba's future? In the medical field
In its five-year corporate strategy, a planning that started in April 2019, Toshiba places medical activities among the pillars of growth. Not just automation, batteries and digital solutions that use artificial intelligence, therefore.
Toshiba's future development involves activities like genome analysis and cell diagnosis, and you know what I'm telling you? Probably ours too.
Source: NHK World
