Hollywood experts aid cancer fight

The camera can detect signs cancer earlier than screening, say doctors

A revolutionary camera may be able to spot signs of breast cancer early enough to prevent the disease altogether, scientists say.

Doctors at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund (ICRF) have enlisted the help of technicians more used to working on Hollywood film to develop a micro-camera.

The movie specialists have used their knowledge of fibre-optics to help produce the tiny camera, less than 1mm in diameter, that scientists hope will be able to pick up pre-cancerous changes in the breast.

Many women currently do not know anything is wrong until they find a lump in their breast.

In the next three or four years it may be possible to prevent many breast cancers altogether

Dr Nicolas Beechey-Newman, ICRF

Breast cancer affects one in nine women in the UK, with over 13,000 deaths from the disease in 1999.

Dr Nicolas Beechey-Newman who led work on the device at the ICRF Clinical Oncology Unit at Guy's hospital, London said: "This procedure may prove to be a revolutionary new approach in the fight against breast cancer.

"In the next three or four years it may be possible to prevent many breast cancers altogether."

Close-up study

The camera is small enough to pass through the opening in the nipple.

Doctors are able to look for signs of cancer from the inside via the endoscope, which is as thin as a few strands of human hair.

They are able to examine the lining of the milk ducts - the site from which breast cancer develops.

Once inside the nipple, the endoscope sends back magnified pictures to a TV so doctors can spot any warning signs.

Healthy milk ducts look like large blue-white, shiny caves, with branches leading off in all directions. Abnormal areas have changed to a reddy-pink colour.

Picking up areas this way means doctors can find problem breast before performing a biopsy.

The team are also hoping to adapt the endoscope so it can take samples, so patients avoid the need for a biopsy altogether.

The ICRF team is the first to use the micro-endoscope in Europe to use the device, which has also been trialled in the US.

Dr Beechey-Newman said: "For many women, the first sign that something might be wrong with their breast is when they find a lump.

"If this lump turns out to be malignant, it is likely that the first abnormality will have been present for up to ten years without detection.

"Once it has reached the stage of a lump it will be made out of millions of tiny invasive cancer cells capable of spreading around the body.

"A micro-endoscope allows us to exploit this ten-year window of opportunity to spot the beginnings of the disease."

Successful trials

Doctors have already used the technique successfully to spot pre-cancerous changes in four women whose problems had already been picked up by traditional screening methods.

At the moment, mammograms, where an X-ray is taken of the breast, are the main method of detecting early breast cancers.

But this new technique could pick up problems much earlier, making it ideal for screening women at high risk of the disease, such as those with a strong family history of breast cancer.

In their early stages of development, breast cancer cells cannot leave the breast ducts and cause widespread disease, meaning doctors can surgically remove the problem areas easily.

Dr Beechey-Newman added: "If we spot pre-malignant changes, we might even be able to prevent their progression by treating with hormone blocking drugs such as tamoxifen."

Sir Paul Nurse, Director General of ICRF, said: "This technique could herald a new era in breast cancer prevention in the future."