Page 457 - AWSAR 2.0

If the doctors want more tissue to carry out further tests or if they feel the disease is more advanced, they go for higher biopsies such as core, incisional, and excisional biopsies, in which larger pieces of tissue
are taken out from the breast.
In breast cancer cells, certain
molecules are present in higher concentrations than in normal
cells. Some of these molecules
are oestrogen receptor,
progesterone receptor, and
human epidermal growth factor
receptor 2 denoted as ER, PR,
and HER2, respectively, in your
report. The disease is treated
in a different way depending
on the concentrations of
each of these molecules, and
accordingly, there are several
subtypes of breast cancer. She
nodded in approval hearing
this, and I could feel a sense of confidence in her that came from beginning to understand the disease in her body.
Then she asked, ‘So, son, then what are you doing in this field, that too as a trained engineer?’ I told her that after working for 4 years, I got an opportunity to do PhD at the
Overview of the diagnostic and staging methodology followed for breast cancer
Mr. Anil Vishnu G. K. || 433
Indian Institute of Science in the Department of BioSystems Science and Engineering. Here I am working on an interdisciplinary project with Prof. Hardik J. Pandya from Electronic
Systems Engineering and Prof. Annapoorni Rangarajan from Molecular Reproduction, Development and Genetics department. I told her that the methods I had detailed here were currently affected by several shortcomings such as false-negative results (the tissue section that we took out might not have an increased concentration of the molecules that might be present in a tissue a little further away from the one that was examined), delay in getting the results (as it takes minimum a week’s time to get the receptor status), and
difficulty in identifying a type of cancer called triple-negative breast cancer (where all the molecules show normal concentration and yet cancer will be aggressive). To address these, we have developed a portable tool integrated with microsensors, electronic modules and display systems that can measure the changing physical properties of the biopsy tissue such as its electrical, thermal and mechanical properties. It is known that these physical properties are different for cancer tissues compared with normal tissues, but there has been no detailed study performed to leverage these properties and develop a system that can be used in the hospitals to aid in the diagnosis of cancer. Electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity and mechanical stiffness of cancer tissues are different from those of normal tissues, and we, at IISc, are developing a portable tool that can measure these properties in an hour’s time to get an understanding as to whether the biopsy tissue
In breast cancer cells, certain molecules are present in higher concentrations than in normal cells. Some of these molecules are oestrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 denoted as ER, PR, and HER2, respectively, in your report.