A novel non-invasive system for cancer treatment is being developed with technology from the European space industry. The first target for this new treatment, which could be ready as early as 2006, is breast cancer.Dutch entrepreneur Hugo Brunsveld van Hulten has come up with a solution to help physicians in their fight against breast cancer that combines two techniques: magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to locate and diagnose cancerous tissue and high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to ‘burn’ malignant cells.This invention, named ActiveFU, is being developed by Brunsveld van Hulten at the new European Space Incubator (ESI) facility at ESTEC, ESA’s European Space Research and Test Centre in the Netherlands. By using space technologies and expertise from ESA’s space research teams several challenges have already been overcome.
