VIDEO: PEN THAT DETECTS CANCER IN SECONDS

To detect cancerous tissues from healthy tissues can be a major concern when it comes to surgery, which is why medical scientists are continuously looking at new technologies to help surgeons sort the good from the bad. 

Researchers at the University of Texas (UT) at Austin have developed a pen-like device that identifies cancerous tissue during surgery, boosting the chances of a successful procedure. This kind of technology could vastly improve the odds that surgeons did remove every trace of cancer during surgery.

Telling cancerous tissue apart from healthy tissue is key during surgery, and not just to ensure that all the tumour is removed. Taking too much healthy tissue can also be dangerous, raising the prospect of damage to muscle and nerve function, along with other painful side effects.

The instrument developed at UT Austin is claimed to be both much quicker and more accurate than current approaches. 

The pen is called the MasSpec Pen, it works by detecting the biomarkers of certain types of cancer, using software to check them against a catalogue of 253 samples compromising both healthy and cancerous tissues of the breast, thyroid, lung and ovary. The pen simply needs to be held against the tissue while a foot pedal is used to kick off the process.

The team has filed patents for the technology and expects to start testing it during oncologic surgeries in 2018. A paper describing the research was published in Science Translational Medicine, while the video below provides an overview of how it works.