Until now, this technology has been used to find cancer cells in breast and brain tissue, but new research suggests the technology may also become key to uterine cancer, which affects several thousand women each year.
A group of researchers enthusiastically reached this conclusion in a study published in the journal Cancer Journal.
There the knife appears to have a diagnostic accuracy of 89 percent.
Smoke from the tissue reveals cancer cells
The method involves sending small electrical pulses to vaporize tissue that surgeons have removed from the uterus.
The resulting smoke is analyzed using a spectrophotometer, which can detect the presence of any cancer cells in the sample.
See here how the technology works:
According to the researchers, this method makes it possible to diagnose a patient within two seconds.
The study is based on biopsies from 150 women suspected of having uterine cancer. Many people suspect irregular bleeding after menopause.
The results were compared with the classic diagnostic methods we use today, which typically require the patient to wait several weeks for an answer.
The researchers are now planning to launch a larger clinical trial and hope to show more positive results that could lead to wider rollout of the pioneering technology.
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