THIS PROPOSAL DEALS WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL THERMOGRAPHIC CANCER DETECTION SYSTEM FOR HOME USE.

THIS PROPOSAL DEALS WITH THE DEVELOPMENT OF A NOVEL THERMOGRAPHIC CANCER DETECTION SYSTEM FOR HOME USE. THE BASIC UNDERLYING PRINCIPLE DEALS WITH MICROCAPSULES OF TEMPERATURE SENSITIVE LIQUID CRYSTALLINE MATERIALS IN POLYMERIC SHELLS AS A FREE FLOWING POWDER. THESE CAPSULES, WHEN APPLIED TO THE SKIN OF SUSPECTED PATIENTS, WILL PROVIDE A VISUAL THERMOGRAPHIC SCAN TO DETECT UNUSUAL ABNORMAL SKIN TEMPERATURES WHICH GENERALLY ARE DUE TO ABNORMAL TISSUES BEING PRESENT UNDER THE SKIN. THIS EXAMINATION CAN BE PERFORMED BY THE PATIENT AT HOME. THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUCH A SYSTEM WILL BE PARTICULARLY USEFUL TO DETECT BREAST CANCER IN WOMEN. IN PHASE I OF THE PROGRAM, MATERIALS WHICH EXHIBIT LIQUID CRYSTALLINE CHARACTERISTICS BETWEEN 32-36 DEGREES C WILL BE IDENTIFIED FROM LITERATURE REVIEW. THE PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF THESE SELECTED LIQUID CRYSTALLINE MATERIALS SUITABLE FOR THERMOGRAPHIC APPLICATIONS WILL BE DETERMINED FROM LITERATURE REVIEW AND EXPERIMENTATION. A REVIEW OF THE PROPERTIES WILL DETERMINE THE PROCESS TO BE CHOSEN FOR ENCAPSULATION TO DEVELOP CAPSULES OF ABOUT 50 SIZE TO BE APPLIED TO THE SKIN BY A SPRAY WITH COMPRESSED AIR. THE CAPSULES WILL BE DEVELOPED, CHARACTERIZED AND OPTIMIZED FOR THE APPLICATION. TESTS WILL BE PERFORMED TO PROVE THE FEASIBILITY FOR THERMOGRAPHIC APPLICATIONS.