Engineering news
Scientists at the University of Texas, Austin have developed the MasSpec Pen, a probe which is capable of distinguishing between tumours and healthy tissue within ten seconds, without destroying it.
It could be using during cancer operations to help surgeons remove all traces of malignant growths, parts of which are sometimes left behind, putting patients at risk of relapses. Currently, most pathology labs take several days to analyse samples taken during the operation to determine whether any tumour cells remain.
The device, which was created by Jialing Zhang and colleagues at UT Austin, uses tiny amounts of water to gently extract molecules from tissue, and then transfers them through flexible tubing to a mass spectrometer, a device which is used to calculate the masses of molecules contained within a sample.
The scientists tested 253 samples from lung, ovary, thyroid and breast cancers, as well as healthy tissue, to develop a ‘molecular profile’ that could identify cancer with 96.3% accuracy.
Current mass spectrometry techniques use tools that require solvents, pressurised gases or high voltages, but the MasSpecPen uses only water, and has a tip that’s 3D-printed using a biocompatible material called PDMS. The device can reliably detect tumours in living mice, without harming their tissue.
“Exciting research like this has the potential to speed up how quickly doctors can determine if a tumour is cancerous or not and learn about its characteristics,” Dr Áine McCarthy of Cancer Research UK told Professional Engineering. “Gathering this kind of information quickly during surgery could help doctors match the best treatment options for patients sooner. While this particular technology is in its early stages, other devices which work in a similar way and provide information about a tumour during surgery are already being tested in clinical trials.”