Image Courtesy : www.iitr.ac.in

IIT has made the nation proud by inventing a breath-based cancer detector. A team of professors from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Roorkee) worked together to develop a breath-based cancer detector (BLO Detector), which works on the principles of colorimetry.

A statement by IIT Roorkee said that the team of professors includes Prof. Partha Roy, Prof. Indranil Lahiri, Prof. Debrupa Lahiri, and researchers in their group. IIT Roorkee has also signed a technology transfer for the developed breath-based cancer detector- BLO Detector with Tata Steel.

In a press statement, IIT Roorkee stated that BLO Detector would be essential for screening a large pull of the population susceptible to any of these three types of cancer. A positive result in the test will ensure a quick visit to a doctor for an in-depth or detailed diagnosis and cancer treatment. This invention will help increase the survival rate of cancer patients- especially of these three types of cancer.

The statement added that the device had undergone an initial clinical test at a Cancer Research Institute in Dehradun, India, with sensitiveness and specificity of 96.11% and 94.67%, respectively.

Lead researcher for the BLO Detector, Prof. Indranil Lahiri, talked about the invention and said this is a quick, handy, pocket-friendly breast-lung-oral cancer screening device and a person only needs to blow into this device. Instantly after the test, the person can match the color of the substrate with a given color code and understand the possibilities of having breast, lung, and oral cancers.

Acting Director Prof. M.L. Sharma from IIT Roorkee talked about technology transfer and highlighted that the earlier the cancer is detected, more are the chances of full recovery. And where cancer detection in today's world is becoming expensive, I am humbled to learn that this technology transfer will bear fruits for people who go through cancer and go on without detection.

News Source: Hindustan Times