Revolutionary pen could detect cancer in 10 seconds

The tool could help surgeons remove any trace of the disease

10 September 2017

A new device created by the University of Texas is said to be able to identify cancerous tissue in 10 seconds.

The electronic pen has been developed to make surgical removal a quicker and more precise process.

Having been tested on 253 samples, results suggest a 96 per cent accuracy rate.

The pen releases a droplet of water when it comes into contact with a suspected cancer. The chemicals living within the cells then travel into the droplet and are sucked back into the device for analysis.

The cancer detecting pen

University of Texas

After this the pen is attached to a mass spectrometer, which measures the mass of thousands of chemicals every second and tells the doctors whether the tissue is cancerous or healthy.

Doctors are hopeful that the precision of the pen will enable them to ensure any last trace of cancer is removed during surgery, as removing too little can result in a re-growth of cancer cells.

Livia Schiavinato Eberlin, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the university said: "Our technology could vastly improve the odds that surgeons really do remove every last trace of cancer during surgery."

Take a look at the video to find out more about how the pen works and why it is likely to help sufferers in the future.

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