(JP/Multa Fidrus)

The Internet kiosk at the Modern Land housing estate, Tangerang, where Warsito, a scientist developing research into volume tomography in Electro Capacitance Cancer Therapy (ECCT), is no longer crowded with journalists like it used to be.

Instead, it has become the EdWar Technology Center, the Engine of Tomorrow, and most of guests who come to the kiosk on a daily basis are women suffering from breast cancer.  

Since Warsito managed to develop his previous invention called Volume Tomography, an analytical tool that can be used to produce four dimensional images and has industrial applications into ECCT, some 1,800 breast cancer patients are now under his treatment.

“Since the ECCT was tried out in June 2010, it has completely cured 20 women of their breast cancer, while 80 percent of the total number patients had obtained significant improvements with the ECCT treatment,” Warsito told The Jakarta Post in a recent interview.

According to Warsito, there are three technological aspects in volume tomography, namely a capacitor, a signal and an image reconstruction algorism.

“I developed a capacitor to induce electricity to attack the cancer cells because electricity polarization inhibits further growth of cancer cells,” he said, adding that in vitro studies showed that electricity induction could stop 30 percent of cancer cells’ growth in the human body per month.

Warsito said he had initially created ECCT due to his concerns over the suffering of his two elder sisters, both of whom contracted breast cancer.

“They had tried various treatments, including surgical options followed by chemotherapy in order to eradicate the disease, but to no avail. They ran out of money because breast cancer treatment is very expensive,” he said.

Knowing that electro capacitance can curb the growth of cancer cells, Warsito developed the ECCT, a chargeable tool measuring the size of a cellular phone charger. The ECCT is attached to specially designed clothes, which can distribute electro capacitance to specific parts of the body, depending on the need of the patient.

For breast cancer patients, the special clothing is designed like a bra. Warsito has designed and prepared 30 different styles of apparel, from which the electro capacitance can be distributed into patients’ bodies.

The ECCT may be applied for between eight and 16 hours each day during a six-month therapy period. Patients take the apparel and device off only when they need to take a bath or recharge the ECCT battery.

News about his success in curing his sisters’ respective breast cancer cases through ECCT spread so quickly by word of mouth that a number of his sisters’ friends who suffered from the disease then tried the alternative therapy.  

“That is how my ECCT invention began,” Warsito said, adding that news about his invention had reached patients in America, Europe and India, who have since asked for his help.

As of today, Warsito has yet to charge patients fees as his research into the ECCT has yet to be completed. Instead, patients were merely asked to pay the production costs of the clothes installed with the ECCT tool, costs that range between Rp 3 million (US$318) and Rp 5 million. After the six months of therapy, the patient should return the clothes and the tool. Warsito explained the side effects of ECCT: some patients may feel dizzy and queasy, while the patients’ urine and sweat will tend to produce an extremely bad smell with mucus.  

“ECCT is something new that offers an alternative cancer therapy that never before existed; so, this is a challenge against accepted medical technology, surgery and chemotherapy that will require steep investment. The ECCT itself is completely non-invasive and non-oral. It is merely a tool we have designed to kill cancer cells,” he said.

In response to complaints and objections delivered by cancer foundations and cancer specialists, Warsito had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Health Ministry for tryouts of the ECCT.

Warsito said he just needed clearance from the government to allow hospitals to utilize his research and invention.

He said the ECCT had so far obtained approval from the Committee of Medical Ethics at Apollo Hospitals, which run 800 hospitals in India. He has also presented the ECCT in front of the Board Certified Doctors from the US, which can issue a recommendation to the country’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

Warsito is the only scientist in the world who has managed to develop tomography and create volume tomography that can also be used for the early detection of breast cancer with concentrations of only 0.5 percent.

Warsito completed his doctorate in 1998 at Shizuoka University in Japan. While working as a researcher and lecturer at the university, Warsito continued to conduct research into developing volume tomography.

“As of now, I’m still focusing my research on ECCT for medical applications and it is still being perfected to achieve high levels of accuracy,” he said, adding that the tool was expected to be introduced to the public after he obtained government clearance.

Warsito was born and raised in Karang Anyar, Surakarta, Central Java, in 1967. After graduating high school and just one month after starting his studies at the school of chemistry at Gadjah Mada University, Yogyakarta, in 1986, he left for Shizuoka University on a scholarship from the Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT).

After completing his studies in electronics, he continued his postgraduate studies at the same university while working as a researcher and lecturer. He then obtained a scholarship from the university to continue with his doctorate.

Warsito, who is father to four sons from his marriage to Rita Chaerunissa from Tangerang, once refused the offer of American citizenship, although life in the US could have been much more promising.

Along with several fellow scientists, he established the Indonesian Technology Scientist Community (MITI) to improve technology and science in the country and build cooperation with foreign institutes in conducting research.

Besides research, Warsito also teaches at the school of MIPA and Physics at the University of Indonesia (UI), guiding postdoctoral students from Ohio State University, Washington State University and Shizuoka University.

The only problem facing Warsito, who currently employs 60 people at the EdWar Technology Center, is in trying to meet the continually increasing demand for ECCT with limited financial and human resource support.

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