Prospective evaluation of skin surface electropotentials in Japanese patients with suspicious breast lesions

Abstract

The biofield breast examination (BBE) is a new, noninvasive and cost-effective method for diagnosing breast lesions currently undergoing multicenter evaluation in the USA and Europe. The test analyzes subtle differences in electrical potential caused by dysregulated epithelial proliferation. This report summarizes a prospective evaluation of BBE in a population of 101 patients with suspicious breast lesions scheduled either for open surgical biopsy or fine needle aspiration biopsy. Of the 101 patients included in the study, 49 were found to have a breast malignancy and 52 were found to have a benign breast lesion. BBE correctly identified 44 of 49 biopsy-proven carriers (sensitivity = 90% and correctly indicated no cancer in 31 of 52 biopsy-proven benign cases (specificity = 60%). Sensitivity increased to 95% for cancers less than 2.5 cm in size. These results indicate that BBE may be an effective adjunctive test to help to resolve abnormalities discovered by physical examination or other screening methods.