If it’s any good it will filter thru to a doctor near you otherwise, it all sounds nice
$5 device tests for breast cancer in under 5 seconds: study
21–30 of 137 posts
Re: $5 device tests for breast cancer in under 5 seconds: study
#22Someone has to actually commercialize this and get it approved and it will cost far more than $5. As part of that they have to demonstrate that it is, ya know, useful (vs existing methods).
Re: $5 device tests for breast cancer in under 5 seconds: study
#23Cool how they're using BNC connectors and ICs from the 1980's /s
First standout thing I noticed is the “patern generator” array of DIPs - admittedly without having dived into the paper, any answers from the hive mind what they’re doing?
I was focusing more on the "current to frequency" stage, which looks like an empty IC socket. As is the "pulse width counting" stage just a bunch of header pins?
I mean yeah, I get it, it's a prototype and a finished product will be on a $2 ASIC to drive the correct signals and etc. But I'm not up to speed on affinity sensors vs. traditional ELISA tech so .
Re: $5 device tests for breast cancer in under 5 seconds: study
#24As a reference. Currently an MRI scan can go from $400-$2000 (mostly covered by insurance)
https://scan.com/body-parts/breast
An MRI machine cost arounds $350.000 on average. https://www.blockimaging.com
Re: $5 device tests for breast cancer in under 5 seconds: study
#25Cool how they're using BNC connectors and ICs from the 1980's /s
First standout thing I noticed is the “patern generator” array of DIPs - admittedly without having dived into the paper, any answers from the hive mind what they’re doing?
Breast cancer is a terrible disease, and I don't mean to be a downer but my BS detector is screaming on this one. I'd give the device image a pass if were just a journalist grabbing a stock PCB image, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. Anyone with even a trivial knowledge of electronics would be amused by the callouts. And all for just $5? After Theranos I guess I'm a bit sceptical of claims such as this.
Re: $5 device tests for breast cancer in under 5 seconds: study
#26> employs paper test strips coated with specific antibodies. These antibodies interact with cancer biomarkers [from] a drop of saliva > “[...] cost-effective, with the test strip costing just a few cents and the reusable circuit board priced at $5,” Wan says. That is cool: the 5$ isn't even the cost of the test, it's the one-time cost of your lab equipment. Of course, per sibling comments, the efficacy has yet to be…
"but even a few percent more early detections due to frequent testing would be a win"
This is not the current medical thought on early screenings for various cancers. It used to be and I was confused about it until very recently. Indeed the medical community is still wrestling with the issue of screening harms. The consensus is shifting that screening should only be done if there is an existing condition or symptom or family history.
https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2022...
Re: $5 device tests for breast cancer in under 5 seconds: study
#27Press release: https://publishing.aip.org/publications/latest-content/would... Actual publication: https://pubs.aip.org/avs/jvb/article/42/2/023202/3262988/Hig... Experiment size is literally N=21, with 4 healthy participants, 3 in-situ breast cancers, and 14 invasive breast cancers. N=21 might as well be useless in my opinion. You can't draw any meaningful conclusions about statistical power of this test; if your pr…
Yah headline jumping the gun a bit, but hopefully this motivates funding to get a bigger study / refine the technique.
Re: $5 device tests for breast cancer in under 5 seconds: study
#28Figures 3 and 5 from the paper ( https://pubs.aip.org/avs/jvb/article/42/2/023202/3262988/Hig... ) have overlap between all the groups. The same measured output could have come from any of the non-cancer, or known-cancer, participants. While the means of these groups look nicely separable, that overlap means there will be significant false positives or false negatives. So I'd label the studyfinds headline of this bei…
Not at all. The model is quite accurate. In fact, with the distribution of samples that they have a model that predicts all cases as having cancer would also be very accurate. It would get 17/21 predictions right. The model lacks precision. I suspect that even with a fairly high cut off point the model would still produce a bevvy of false positive predictions due to that. It might still be useful as a screening step if they can increase the sensitivity further, but you would still rely upon further tests to get a true diagnosis.
Re: $5 device tests for breast cancer in under 5 seconds: study
#29Would a US company have enough financial incentive to front the cost of FDA approval in the US? I'm guessing it is expensive to jump through all of the hoops. Without a patent, why would a company pay for this?
As a non-invasive diagnostic equipment, let us say it is akin to a pregnancy test, or a creatine in urine test. That puts it in Class 1, and may be exempt from a lot of the hoops a medicine would go through.
There are a little over 6,100 hospitals in the US at any given time. That means roughly $30,000 in cost to produce to provide every hospital with one, using the cheapest of cheapest parts. Presumably, you'd want higher end components and things like a shell casing to protect from spills, static, etc. maybe the cost is $120k.
You could sell these for $100 each, and maybe make $5 million. That's a decent amount of money for a tiny business, but a pittance for even a small business that needs to pay salaries, lawyers, etc.
In reality, they'd probably go for much more- let's say $10k each, plus $100 for each test strip. Still easily in range for the budget of most US hospitals.
The real question is, if breast cancer is suspected, is this test any better than imaging using equipment the hospital already has?
Can it detect all types, or the degree that it is progressing?
I suspect the utility in a clinical setting is not high enough to really change clinical practices any.
Re: $5 device tests for breast cancer in under 5 seconds: study
#30If it’s any good it will filter thru to a doctor near you otherwise, it all sounds nice
Really? Will the $5 Arduino people woo the doctor near you with golf trips? Will they strong arm HMOs to cover the cost? Will they carpetbomb the airwaves telling consumers to “ask their doctor?” Will they defeat the army of marketers and salespeople with entrenched competing tech?
This device may be total crap, I don’t know, but “trust the system” isn’t a great way to navigate the American medical system. Other countries have it better, or at least different.