Device detects cancer in just 10 seconds

The MasSpec Pen device - which is undergoing clinical trials - can identify healthy or cancerous tissue in just 10 seconds during surgery.

MasSpec Pen cancer cell detection device - Photo: University of Texas - Austin

On November 11 (local time), a Brazilian scientist developed a breakthrough medical device capable of identifying healthy or cancerous tissue within just 10 seconds during surgery, a step forward expected to save the lives of many patients.

The author of this scientific work is Professor Lívia Schiavinato Eberlin, a chemistry expert, inventor of a device called MasSpec Pen, also known as the "cancer detection pen", one of the medical innovations that has been considered promising in recent years.

Albert Einstein Hospital in São Paulo is now the first medical facility outside the United States to conduct clinical trials of the device, in collaboration with Thermo Fisher Scientific, which provides the mass spectrometry system that reads molecular data.

The MasSpec Pen works in a simple and completely non-invasive way. During surgery, the doctor simply places the tip of the pen on the suspected tissue.

The device sprays a tiny drop of sterile water, which picks up molecules from the tissue surface and sends them to a spectrometer. In just a few seconds, the system tells you whether the tissue is benign or malignant.

Professor Eberlin explained that this technology eliminates the traditional frozen tissue testing process, which can take up to 90 minutes while the patient is still under anesthesia.

Thanks to that, the doctor can receive the results right in the operating room, accurately determine the tumor boundaries and avoid removing too much healthy tissue or missing cancer cells.

The clinical trial at Einstein Hospital is expected to last 24 months, with 60 patients with lung and thyroid cancer taking part. The next phases will extend to breast, liver and ovarian cancers, where initial testing has shown high accuracy.

In addition to detecting cancer, the team also wanted to determine whether the device could identify a tumor's immune profile, a key element in precision medicine.

With this invention, Professor Eberlin, who currently teaches at Baylor College of Medicine (USA) and was honored by MIT Technology Review as one of the " world's most innovative young scientists" in 2018, continues to affirm the position of Brazilian science on the global medical innovation map.

VNA - NGOC DUC

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/thiet-bi-phat-hien-duoc-ung-thu-chi-trong-10-giay-20251112072558431.htm