TECHNOLOGY used to spot cracks in space shuttle foam and distinguish talcum powder from cocaine could soon be able to detect skin burns and the early stages of cancers.

Perth Researchers have been awarded a $200,000 Australian Research Council grant to adapt a technique used in astronomy and remote sensing to assess burns and superficial cancers such as skin cancer.

University of WA medical physicist Vincent Wallace says combining the novel technique with other high-resolution imaging methods could help doctors fight diseases.

“The grant will allow us to study the interaction of terahertz radiation or T-rays with cells and tissues, in particular cancerous cells,” he says

“We know the technology works, we just don’t know why.”

T-rays are described as the next wave in imaging and sensing technology. They occur in the terahertz region of the electromagnetic spectrum, defined by frequencies from 0.1 to 10THz, just between infrared light and microwave radiation.

Terahertz rays can provide images of skin burns and cancers, including breast and gastro-intestinal, without the danger of ionising radiation.

Associate Professor Wallace says the combination of T-rays with another technology known as optical coherence tomography, or OCT, which provides cross-sectional high-resolution scans of tissues, could be used to detect the early stages of cancers which do not show up on X-ray or magnetic resonance imaging.

“We produce very short pulses of T-rays that are reflected off tissue,” Professor Wallace says.

“Ultimately, we’re trying to use T-rays to detect diseases. That will involve building new instrumentation to image cells and tissues.”

Professor Wallace says T-rays and OCT could help surgeons determine the exact margins of tumours before or during surgery. They also will be able to assess the depth of burns and view imaged data on a computer screen.

T-rays complement existing technologies such as X-ray and MRI, rather than replace them in the diagnosis and treatment of disease. They are also safer than X-rays for biological applications, with photon energies about one million times weaker than X-ray photons.

Terahertz technology has been in use since the 1990s, but has only recently begun to be developed for use in medical applications. Terahertz imaging is also being adapted in airport security systems as it is able to detect weapons, even plastic ones, through whatever material they are concealed in – and at a safe distance of several metres.

It also can determine what materials are made of, as the terahertz waves they emit are unique to their composition. This enables security scanners to distinguish between talcum powder and drugs.

After graduating from University College London, Professor Wallace completed his PhD at London’s Royal Marsden Hospital, a specialist cancer hospital.

He is leading the ARC project in collaboration with Dr Peter Siegel, a scientist working
at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and the California Institute of Technology who has long had a strong interest in the medical opportunities of T-rays.

Professor Wallace says the new medical diagnostic techniques would benefit Australians who live in a country with the highest skin cancer rate in the world and that research groups and companies in the US, Europe and Australia are developing the technology for a number of applications in the pharmaceutical industry and security.