This innovative new investigative tool could aid disease diagnosis and targeted surgery
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousThis innovative new investigative tool could aid liver cancer diagnosis and targeted surgery
When it comes to cancer, the early diagnosis it is what makes the difference in terms of healing and quality of life after therapy: this is why working on medical investigation and diagnostic tools is essential. A team of researchers from Orel State University (Russia) has developed an innovative optical biopsy system for the diagnosis of liver cancer (the sixth most common cancer in the world), capable of distinguish between cancerous liver tissue and healthy tissue: the new technology, in addition to limiting errors in the taking of tissue samples to be used for the medical examination, would make the diagnosis of cancer easier and would save the lives of many people. Encouraging results were obtained in preliminary tests conducted on patients with suspected liver cancer.
Optical biopsy methods such as the one we have developed allow differentiating healthy from tumor tissues with a high degree of accuracy - he said. Elena Potapova, co-author of the study. - But not only that: although our system was specifically designed for use in abdominal surgery, our results show that similar technologies could be useful for other medical applications.
(Also Read: Liver Cancer: Common Symptoms Not To Be Underestimated That Can Be A Warning Sign)
Clinical examination of biopsy involves taking a tiny sample of tissue from an organ with a needle for clinical analysis. Early stage liver tumors are very difficult to detect through biopsy: if the needle does not hit the tumor mass, taking the organ cells that are still healthy, it can lead to a wrong diagnosis that actually allows the tumor to grow. The new optical biopsy system, on the other hand, combines spectroscopy with measurements that make it possible to detect differences in the cellular metabolism, which varies between healthy and cancerous cells. This would help the surgeons to “See” the tumor even before taking the tissue, in order to choose the right point of the organ to perform the biopsy: the diseased liver tissue, in fact, is metabolically modified by the presence of the tumor.
The new diagnostic system has been designed to adapt to today's machines already in use to perform biopsies, in order to allow all doctors an easier access to the technology. Furthermore, that discovery could also be carried over to other fields of medicine and to help doctors in the early diagnosis of other diseases as well, as well as to assess the extent and stage of the tumor present within an organ.
@ Biomedical Optics Express
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Fonte: Biomedical Optics Express
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