Hand-held tool shows breast tumours

The Breastlight, a hand-held device which emits a safe, LED-powered light, picked up 67 per cent of malignant tumours in a trial conducted at Sunderland City Hospital, which is due to be published this year. A previous trial was conducted in Ghana by a charity which has been using Breastlight as part of their screening process when examining women in rural areas. The results were published last year at the African Breast Cancer Conference in Cairo, Egypt, and reported a success rate of 96 per cent. Mammographies typically pick up between 60 and 85 per cent of cancers. The torch can even spot tiny lumps which are not considered large enough to be felt during a physical examination.