Cancer's Magic Wand

A new type of surgical knife has been developed that could revolutionise the operation of cancer patients. The "Iknife" works in a similar way to the previous tool using a heated tip to cut through the tissue in order to make a biopsy. However, unlike the previous technique the iknife has a vacuum so that it can extract the smoke produced from the burning of the tissue.

Healthy and cancer tissues have unique smoke signals. The smoke produced is fed into a mass spectrometer which analyses the smoke particles instantly informing the surgeon whether the tissue being burnt is cancerous or not. This is hugely important as it is more likely that all of the cancerous tissue will be removed meaning that it will not spread again. Currently 1 in 5 breast cancer patients still have cancerous tissues left inside them after a biopsy with this new technology that figure is expected to drop.

The iknife has been used in over 500 surgeries. In Hungary the iknife correctly identified the cancerous tissue in all 91 patients. The iknife is still in clinical trials but looks to be a big step forward in what is the battle against cancer.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-23350028