A 'Star Trek'-Style Medical 'tricorder' to Diagnose Breast Cancer in Minutes

A 'Star Trek'-style medical tricorder , developed Brit scientists can diagnose diseases such as breast cancer in minutes.

Ingenious Brit scientists have developed a 'Star Trek'-style medical "tricorder" capable of diagnosing diseases such as breast cancer in minutes.

The hand-held device analyses a patient's blood, urine or saliva sample to indicate the presence of disease, much like the one used by Dr Leonard "Bones" McCoy in the sci-fi series.

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Breast cancer is a cancer that affects the breasts or mammary glands. Early detection and lifestyle changes help in controlling breast cancer.

Named the CliniHub, the gadget features a number of "ports" into which samples are placed.

The samples react to chemicals inside the ports, which then change colour to denote diseases in the same way that a pregnancy test turns blue.

CliniHub has been developed by Cambridge Consultants in conjunction with US firm XenBio Fluidics, from California.

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Cancer is one of the frequently talked about and most feared disease that falls under the genre of lifestyle diseases that have evolved, rather rapidly, in the past two decades.

Patrick Pordage, from Cambridge Consultants, believes it could be "the future" for diagnosing diseases.

"We are very excited about the possibilities that CliniHub can bring to both patients and GPs across the world," the Scotsman quoted him as saying.

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Most breast lumps are caused by hormonal changes in a woman and may not be cancerous. Common causes of breast lumps include fibroadenosis, breast cancer, breast cyst.

"Quicker analysis of diseases can only lead to better treatment and, in some cases, we hope it could save lives. This technology is a real breakthrough for us.

"The CliniHub could prove to be the future of disease diagnosis and we believe its applications will grow with time," he added.

Breast Lumps Screening
Breast lumps must never be neglected but instead be subjected to medical examination to rule out cancer.

The netbook-sized CliniHub is expected to cost about 650 pounds.

Its developers predict it will soon be able to detect up to 20 ailments and become commonplace in GP surgeries.

When using the device, doctors insert a blood, urine or saliva sample into one of four USB-sized ports located on the side.

Each port contains a chemical "assay" that has been designed in the US to react in different ways when it detects different antibodies and diseases.

Source-ANI