Organizations from six countries develop the HYPOSENS device …

1 in 8 women will suffer breast cancer throughout their lives.

This system (diagnostic imaging) could become the alternative to biopsy, the usual surgical procedure for the detection of breast cancer metastasis.

Cancer metastasis is responsible for 90% of deaths related to this disease. It occurs when some tumour cells escape from the primary tumour and travel through the blood and / or lymphatic systems to establish themselves in another organ.

In breast cancer (the most common among women), metastasis occurs mainly through the lymphatic system. If the cancer is diagnosed before the tumour cells have spread to other organs, the probability of survival is 97%. The lymph nodes closest to a tumour (known as sentinel lymph nodes) are the most likely route of arrival of cancer cells to the lymphatic system. Therefore, identifying the presence of cancer cells in these ganglia, before they have spread to other organs, is essential to increase survival rates.

 

HYPOSENS: A minimally invasive technology for the early and real-time detection of metastatic breast cancer

At present, the usual procedure for the detection of metastatic breast cancer is known as sentinel lymph node biopsy (better known by its acronym in English, SLNB). However, this technique has several drawbacks: it requires invasive surgery, it can produce false negatives in 5-10% of the cases and the result is not immediate since it requires a histological analysis of the samples.

In this sense, the HYPOSENS project addresses the real clinical need for a low-cost, easy-to-use, safe and minimally invasive imaging technique that helps oncologists and other professionals to accurately detect metastatic breast cancer.

The HYPOSENS device will help the oncologist establish the presence of cancer cells in the lymph nodes of the breasts and offer the patient a more accurate and quick diagnosis and personalized treatment options.

It will also allow a significant decrease in the diagnostic costs associated with the progression of metastatic breast cancer.

Currently, the prototype of the HYPOSENS device is at the Biomedical Research Center of La Rioja (CIBIR) to perform preclinical tests.

 

About the HYPOSENS project

Ten institutions from six countries participate in the HYPOSENS project.

The HYPOSENS system is part of a European project that began in November 2016 and will last until 2019. The project is funded by the European Commission under the “Horizon 2020” program.

 

More information: 

Martina Passarello (Project Coordinator)

mpassarello@leitat.org

Francesc Mitjans (Scientific Coordinator)

fmitjans@leitat.org