A team of professors from the Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee) has developed a breath-based cancer detector (BLO Detector), which works on the principles of colorimetry. The team includes Prof. Indranil Lahiri, Prof. Partha Roy, Prof. Debrupa Lahiri, and researchers in their groups, the institute said in a statement.
The institute has also signed a technology transfer for the BLO detector with Tata Steel.
“BLO Detector will be important for screening a large pull of the population who are susceptible to any of these three types of cancer. A positive result in this test will ensure a quick visit to a doctor for a detailed diagnosis and treatment of cancer. This will have a huge impact on increasing the survival rate of cancer patients – specifically of these three types of cancer. The device has undergone an initial clinical test at a Cancer Research Institute in Dehradun, India, with a sensitivity and specificity of 96.11% and 94.67%, respectively,” IIT Roorkee said in a press statement.
Taking about the know-how of the device, Prof. Indranil Lahiri, lead researcher for the BLO Detector, said, “This is a quick, handy, pocket-friendly breast-lung-oral cancer screening device and a person just needs to blow into this device. Immediately after the test, the person can match the color of the substrate with a given color code and understand the chances of having any of the breast, lung, and oral cancers.”
Talking about the technology transfer, Acting Director Prof. M.L. Sharma, IIT Roorkee, 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 costly, I am humbled to know that this technology transfer will bear fruits for people who suffer from cancer and go on without detection.”
