Why wait months to determine whether a tumor is responding to cancer treatment if it’s possible to know sooner?
That’s the question being posed by a pair of inventors in Toronto who are crowdfunding clinical studies of a new device to monitor the effectiveness of chemotherapy on breast tumors.
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Called WaveCheck, the noninvasive device combines traditional ultrasound with new software to detect responses to chemotherapy in breast tissue.
Dr. Gregory Czarnota, the chief of radiation oncology at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, and Ryerson University physics professor Michael Kolios invented the device to facilitate better conversation between patients and doctors and help identify the right treatment for each person. They say it can provide insight about a treatment’s effects as early as four weeks after the start of therapy, although they eventually hope to bring that down to one week.
An observational study is underway at Sunnybrook’s Odette Cancer Center in Toronto, and the researchers have published early results from 24 patients. Now, to study the device’s accuracy and sensitivity at three other cancer centers in Canada and the U.S. next year, WaveCheck has raised nearly $50,000 through an Indiegogo campaign.
The research behind WaveCheck has so far been funded by granting agencies, foundations and universities in Canada and the United States. But the researchers are still hoping to raise another $40,000 through the campaign, which ends tomorrow. The campaign is part of Indiegogo’s #GivingTuesday promotion and will receive an extra dollar for every $20 raised today.
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[Image credit: WaveCheck]
