A CORRESPONDENT
DIBRUGARH: A highly significant path-breaking research paper on breast cancer treatment, its types and challenges in the Northeast region has been published in Discover Oncology, one of the world's leading cancer research journals published by Springer Nature.
The research was carried out by Dr Gayatri Gogoi, Professor of Pathology at Assam Medical College, Dibrugarh, and an Adjunct Faculty at ICMR - Regional Medical Research Centre, NE Region, along with her team. For the scientific world, this research highlights the biological variations and challenges of breast cancer among women in Assam, who are distinct in terms of geographical location, ethnic diversity, dietary habits, and socio-economic-cultural aspects from the rest of India.
Data from the Indian Council of Medical Research shows that Northeast India has the country's youngest cohort of breast cancer patients, with an average age at diagnosis of 47 years (compared to 54 pan-India and 65 in the US).
This younger age group is strongly associated with the aggressive TNBC molecular subtype, partly explaining why half of Indian breast cancer patients die within five years.
The recent publication, 'Association between molecular subtypes of breast cancer and surgical margin status from Assam, India,' investigated the challenges surgeons face in achieving tumour-free surgical margins.
Intriguingly, while it was expected that TNBC would exhibit high margin involvement, during the study, it surprisingly showed the lowest rate of positive margins. The researchers hypothesised that different molecular subtypes produce varying physical properties - such as stiffness, pressure, or optical density affecting how surgeons differentiate tumour tissue from normal tissue by touch.
The study stated that to improve outcomes in Northeast India, emphasis must be placed on early detection, molecular testing, and precise surgical planning.
To bridge the current technological gap in distinguishing cancerous tissue, the research group is currently developing a multimodal, fabricated MEMS-based electrical sensor and a piezoelectric micromachined ultrasound transducer (pMUT) probe for accurate, real-time intraoperative margin assessment.
It is noteworthy that Dr Gayatri Gogoi has conducted original research substantial times, contributing from Assam to the global stage, for which she has also been honoured by various medical research organisations, including ICMR.
Notably, she secured a design patent for developing a model for breast self-examination.
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