Spot cancer cells in seconds
One of the biggest worries for patients undergoing cancer surgery is whether surgeons will miss some of the diseased tissue.
That worry could be over with a new pencil-sized tool developed by scientists and engineers at the University of Texas at Austin, according to a study published.
The tool, dubbed the MasSpec Pen, allows surgeons removing a tumor to detect cancerous cells in tissues in seconds, allowing them to know immediately if they have found and removed all of the cancer.
Currently, it can take days to determine if the surgeons got every thing. What they miss could lead to a return of the cancer.
The study in ‘Science Translational Medicine’ said when the pen is touched to a tissue during surgery, it draws up small molecules to be analysed by a miniaturised mass spectrometer built inside the stylus.
The pen can identify cancerous cells through distinct molecules called metabolites. That identifies any residual cancer, with a monitor linked to the pen declaring ‘normal’ or ‘cancer’.
Tests on tissues removed from 253 human cancer patients showed the new tool was ‘more than 96% accurate’, according to the study.
