He ovarian cancer This requires treatment as early as possible, but It usually takes a lot of time to collideIn addition, sometimes, when you make symptoms, they can be confused with the symptoms of other more common diseases. Or even with the rule itself. Therefore, sometimes patients with high genetic risk are subjected to regular blood analytics. Now, that if all this can be decided using Intellectual compressionable to look for a disease in Menstrual bloodl?
This is exactly what the team of scientists from the Eth Zurich nanoparticles has developed. This is about A device that can be placed on compression And there to discover the availability ProteinThey held the first tests with ovary cancer, but it will be Applied to other diseases.
The aim of these compresses is to reduce blood extraction and use menstrual blood, which, in the end, spills every month. The entire device is at a very initial stage, but the first results were quite promising.
This is how compression works to detect ovarian cancer
A device that detects ovarian cancer in menstrual blood is very small, 2 centimeters high with a height of 2 centimetersThe field is immersed in a piece of silicone, which also has Reactive traction This, entering into contact with menstrual blood, it changes color if it discovers three concrete proteins. This C-reactive protein, carcino-emrifying antigen and cancer antigen 125 (CA-125)The field of the first protein is a marker of inflammation, the second rises with the development of various types of tumors, and the third is specific for ovarian cancer.
The combination of the three usually indicates that there is ovarian cancer. It is important that they all unite, since separately can be raised for other reasons, such as any inflammatory disease in the case of C -reactive protein. In fact, even the CA-125, specific to ovarian cancer, can be raised with other pathologies, such as Endometriosis For all this, if the color change is found on the device placed in compression, it will be necessary to present the patient to more confirmed tests. The device alone does not confirm anything.
Another interesting fact of this device is that Includes artificial intelligence. And, although the patient can see a color change at first glance, he has an algorithm trained in a large number of samples and color changes, which interprets the result in a much more accurate way.
Menstrual blood is an ideal sample
We have already seen that menstrual blood is very useful, because it will still spill. But is it equally effective, like venous blood?
This device has not yet been tested directly in the real environment. However, tests were carried out to answer this question. In fact, a group of volunteers provided researchers Sample of both venous blood and menstrual bloodThe field when analyzing the protein profile measured on the device, it was clear that the differences were almost zero.
On the other hand, the same volunteers used compresses just for Check your comfort And they admitted that they did not notice the differences with the compresses that they usually used. All of them are advantages.
What are the restrictions?
Everything sounds very well, but these scientists admit that their study can have two restrictions. On the one hand, if there is a lot of menstrual blood in compression It may be difficult to detect color change. And, on the other hand, since color changes are not always indicators of ovarian cancer, Researchers fear that anxiety in patients can generate, This will be constantly waiting for the changes made on the device. This should also be taken into account in the clinical trials that they plan to conduct in the near future.
Everything should be notified, because it may not be for all patients. But, no doubt, It can be a very useful diagnostic tool in the future.
Source: Hiper Textual
