Diagnosis Without Biopsy: The Future of Breast Cancer?

The Horizon2020 project SOLUS team aims to begin testing their non-invasive breast imaging system beginning in late 2020. While, mammography can accurately detect breast lesions there a still a large number of false positives, which lead to unnecessary biopsies. The team hopes the SOLUS (Smart Optical and Ultrasound) imaging system can replace biopsy.

For patients, the experience will be very similar to receiving an ultrasound. The system uses three components:

·Ultrasound for anatomical information

·Elastography to estimate stiffness (malignant tissues tends to be stiffer)

·Optical tomography to assess tissue composition

We’re looking forward to seeing how this innovative technology plays out in a clinical setting later this year!