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This path-breaking test will take only 10 minutes to detect breast cancer

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in India with the numbers being highest in the age group of 50-60.

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The ‘MammoAlert’ machine has undergone three trials in the US and is awaiting approval in Europe and the US. The accuracy rate of the test is likely to go up to 97 per cent
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Maharashtra’s Health Minister Dr Deepak Sawant, at an unveiling of the latest screening test for breast cancer, said that the government will run pilot projects across the state to ensure poor women had access to better screening. The test called Pandora CDx is a product of a Silicon Valley start-up that will give results in just 10 minutes as opposed to a mammography that takes several hours. 

“We will take the test to communities across the state so that more people can be helped,” Dr Sawant said. “One of the biggest deterrents in the screening of breast cancer so far was that women had to expose themselves but this test will allow them to be screened with the help of a blood test,” said Amruta Fadnavis, CM Devendra Fadnavis’ wife, who was also present at the event.  

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women in India with the numbers being highest in the age group of 50-60. With over 1.5 lakh women being diagnosed with breast cancer, 70,000 deaths are being reported every year. A majority of the women are diagnosed only in stage 3 and 4.     

Mammography requires a woman to undress and uses radiation. The machine is expensive for the hospital to buy and can cost as much as Rs 60 lakh. The test being launched by POC Medical Systems will use a drop of blood and give results using the portable machine in 10 minutes. The machine will cost one-tenth the cost of a mammography machine while the test could cost less than Rs 1,000. The battery operated, portable machine is likely to make its way to rural Maharashtra and Gujarat soon after its commercial launch in July.

“A technician can operate the machine and data will be sent using mobile devices to a cloud platform and can be accessed by a doctor who can then contact the patient,” explained Sanjeev Saxena, CEO, POC Medical Systems.

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