Imagine a day when we look back at present cancer treatments the way we now look back at medieval medicine.

Our present-day skin cancer treatments often leave the face mutilated when doctors need to dig carcinomas out of the derma. Or what about cervical cancer treatments that leave almost 100 percent of women infertile — that is, if they’re not among the 32 percent of new cervical cancer diagnoses that result in death.

Fast forward to a time when literally shining a light on the skin or cervix can illuminate cancer cells — and a 20-minute light-therapy treatment can cure them.

Sound like science fiction — or at best, a far-off-future cure? Actually, the reality is a lot closer than you might imagine.

[lz_jwplayer video=”vauwnwLJ” old_player=”g9TNUqjf” ads=”true”]

Cervical cancer screening technology hasn’t changed in half a century. Insert cold metal speculum, use a wooden scraper to scrape the sensitive inner lining of the uterus, then smear it on a slide to be examined under a microscope.

Not comfortable — and not all that reliable. In fact, false-negatives (where cells are diagnosed abnormal when in fact they are perfectly healthy) occur in almost 40 percent of all pap tests.

Roberto Trujillo, who grew up in the small Mexican village of San Pedro, noticed that death rates for cervical cancer were much higher in Latin America than in the United States because of fears surrounding diagnosis and treatment. So he and his partner, Brazilian molecular physicist Vanderlei Bagnato, invented a portable unit that could detect cancer cells in a matter of minutes — and cure them in just a few minutes more.

Trials in the United States will begin shortly.

The applications of this technology extend to a variety of cancers that can be illuminated, including, most obviously, the skin. During a recent interview at the headquarters of TruBios, a biotech company based in Maryland, Trujillo demonstrated the skin cancer screening using a gel (the same used in the cervical cancer test) that sinks into the skin, and allows the light to distinguish between healthy cells and cancer cells.

Clinical trials in Brazil have successfully demonstrated the effectiveness of the technology. Trials in the United States will begin shortly. The next step will be FDA approval, which can take anywhere from two to four years.

Who do you think would win the Presidency?

By completing the poll, you agree to receive emails from LifeZette, occasional offers from our partners and that you've read and agree to our privacy policy and legal statement.

For the 4,000 women in the United States who still die of cervical cancer each year, soon is not soon enough. While it’s important to still get your pap smear every year, you can learn more about how to accelerate better diagnoses and treatment by contacting Trujillo at trubios.com.