(Image Source: University of Texas Austin)Scientists have developed a pen-like device that accurately identifies cancerous tissue during surgery in 10 seconds, that improve treatments and reduce the chances of cancer recurrence. The current methods for diagnosing cancers and determining the boundary between cancer and normal tissue during surgery, is slow and sometimes inaccurate. However, in tests on tissues removed from 253 human cancer patients, the MasSpec Pen took about 10 seconds to provide a diagnosis and was more than 96 per cent accurate. The technology was also able to detect cancer in marginal regions between normal and cancer tissues that presented mixed cellular composition. When the MasSpec Pen completes the analysis, the words “Normal” or “Cancer” automatically appear on a computer screen.

Source: Indian Express September 08, 2017 14:26 UTC