Now, one can detect cancer in just 10 seconds
ANI
Published Sep 7, 2017, 8:01 am IST
Updated Sep 7, 2017, 8:01 am IST
Researchers
from University of Texas, Austin invent powerful tool that rapidly and
accurately identifies cancerous tissue during surgery.
The current method for diagnosing cancers, called Frozen Section Analysis, is slow and sometimes inaccurate. (Photo: Pixabay)
The researchers from University of Texas, Austin invented a powerful tool that rapidly and accurately identifies cancerous tissue during surgery, delivering results in about 10 seconds-- more than 150 times as fast as existing technology.
The MasSpec Pen is an innovative handheld instrument that gives surgeons precise diagnostic information about what tissue to cut or preserve, helping improve treatment and reduce the chances of cancer recurrence.
"If you talk to cancer patients after surgery, one of the first things many will say is 'I hope the surgeon got all the cancer out,' " said team leader Livia Schiavinato Eberlin. "It's just heartbreaking when that's not the case. But our technology could vastly improve the odds that surgeons really do remove every last trace of cancer during surgery."
The current state-of-the-art method for diagnosing cancers and determining the boundary between cancer and normal tissue during surgery, called Frozen Section Analysis, is slow and sometimes inaccurate. Each sample can take 30 minutes or more to prepare and interpret by a pathologist, which increases the risk to the patient of infection and negative effects of anesthesia. And for some types of cancers, frozen section interpretation can be difficult, yielding unreliable results in as many as 10 to 20 percent of cases.
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 percent accurate. The technology was also able to detect cancer in marginal regions between normal and cancer tissues that presented mixed cellular composition. The team expects to start testing this new technology during oncologic surgeries in 2018.
"Any time we can offer the patient a more precise surgery, a quicker surgery or a safer surgery, that's something we want to do," says James Suliburk. "This technology does all three. It allows us to be much more precise in what tissue we remove and what we leave behind."
Although maximizing cancer removal is critical to improve patient survival, removing too much healthy tissue can also have profound negative consequences for patients: For example, breast cancer patients could experience higher risk of painful side effects and nerve damage, in addition to aesthetic impacts. Thyroid cancer patients could lose speech ability or the ability to regulate the body's calcium levels in ways that are important for muscle and nerve function.
In tests performed on human samples, the device was more than 96 percent accurate for cancer diagnosis. The team has also demonstrated that it accurately diagnoses cancer in live, tumor-bearing mice during surgery without causing any observable tissue harm or stress to the animals.
Physicians can operate the disposable handheld device easily. It requires simply holding the pen against the patient's tissue, triggering the automated analysis using a foot pedal, and waiting a few seconds for a result. Meanwhile, the pen releases a drop of water onto the tissue, and small molecules migrate into the water. Then the device drives the water sample into an instrument called a mass spectrometer, which detects thousands of molecules as a molecular fingerprint.
The process is also low-impact for patients.
"When designing the MasSpec Pen, we made sure the tissue remains intact by coming into contact only with water and the plastic tip of the MasSpec Pen during the procedure," noted Zhang. "The result is a biocompatible and automated medical device that we are so excited to translate to the clinic very soon."
The research appears in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Kanika Juneja (right)
It started towards the end of September. My body had been getting tired
faster and I was experiencing spells of dizziness. I'd told my parents,
who, in their wisdom, thought it was my diet and advised me to eat
better and exercise more. Still, the feeling of dizziness persisted, and
I finally visited a doctor, only to be told the same things that my
parents suggested, “You'll be fine, just eat better.”
A few days later, on October 2, 2014, I was sleeping over at my best
friend, Richa's home. We'd been out with friends, and by the time we got
to her house, I was feeling extremely nauseous and dizzy. I finally
slept, only to realise that upon waking up I kept getting bites on the
inside of my cheeks (my teeth were involuntarily biting the inside of my
cheeks). The symptoms, even then, were so little, that my parents and I
didn't think of them as serious, at all.
Three days later, I felt this odd feeling in my leg that wouldn't go
away. I couldn't describe it even to doctors and attendants, who we'd
visited, after I insisted that I was in discomfort.
This time, my doctor, seemed a bit perplexed, and worried, by my
symptoms of cheek bites, numbness, and this uncomfortable and odd
sensation in my legs.
Kanika and her mother
The morning after I was admitted to AIIMS, a full panel of doctors came
to ascertain my condition. They were worried about what my MRI showed,
and wanted to conduct further tests. In the middle of their discussion, I
had to go use the toilet, so I excused myself.
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune disease for which there is no known
cure. It involves the immune system misfiring and attacking the neurons
in the brain, which causes the organs not to receive the signals sent by
the brain.
This time, when the doctor entered my room, he looked visibly concerned.
All around me, friends were getting jobs, going abroad and a few were
even marrying, but I, who was an overachiever all throughout school, who
enjoyed theatre and public speaking, was confined to a bed with the
destiny of staying there.
I started taking the MS injections upon going back home. The injections
came with a host of side effects, extreme weakness, rashes over my body,
nausea, and dizziness. The doctor advised me to always self-administer
(they had a specific placing and schedule) them on Friday, so I had the
entire weekend to recover from the injections.
In October 2016, my luck changed, I found out about Hematopoietic stem
cell transplantation (HSCT). It meant removing stem cells from the body,
undergoing chemotherapy so that the immune system that had gone haywire
would reset, and then reintroducing the stem cells so that the body
could heal. It was a very new research based treatment that had given
some very positive results in places like Russia, Chicago, Philippines,
and Mexico. It was capable of stopping the progression of the disease,
so in my case, where there was very little permanent disability, it was
virtually a cure.
I found out, that doctors didn't prescribe this treatment until the MS
patient was at the last tethers of facing extreme disability or death.
However, I felt it unfair.
In December 2016, I had my eggs frozen, as chemotherapy radiation could
cause me to go infertile. And then, after going through months of
testing, in January 2017, I underwent AHSCT, which is Autologous
hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, 'autologous' meaning that I
used my own stem cells.
I underwent the removal of stem cells, the chemotherapy, then the stem
cells were reintroduced (that hurt the most), and I was kept in
isolation for the duration because my immune system was practically
non-existent.
Thankfully, I have, so far, been free from symptoms of MS since my
transplant. I have also had no need to take my medicines or injections.
Things that I used to take on a daily basis.
I am, also, on a mission to spread awareness about how MS is a 'hidden
disease' with no physical indicators and therefore largely ignored. It
occurs mostly in women, from whom weakness is expected, and therefore
undiagnosed. MS is also considered a disease that affects the brain and
spine, which is misunderstood as a mental illness. None of these are
true, and for those who suffer from it, there is a cure. I run this 
Kanika Juneja (now)
I have a set of tests in December 2017, to ascertain the status of my
disease. Meanwhile, I wanted to be a lecturer, but I realised I'm better
at interacting with adults, so maybe I will become an adult trainer. It
all depends on my results, so fingers crossed.
As told to Tanvi Jain
All images sourced via Kanika Juneja
