Cancer Diagnosed with sound waves !

Cancer cell: It could soon be diagnosed with sound waves

A blood test using sound waves to detect cancer may end the need to take tissue samples.

Currently doctors trying to find out if a tumour is cancerous must do a biopsy to extract a sample.

This can be painful for the patient and may mean a stay in hospital, stitches or a dressing.

But a pioneering device uses sound waves to spot the difference between tumour cells and white blood cells.

Early tests at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, US, found it works as well as existing methods.

Dr Subra Suresh, from the ­university, said: “With further ­refinements, this device could enhance our ability to diagnose and treat cancer.”

He said the new approach would give scientists and clinicians more information about cells and how cancer spreads.

Sound waves:  the chest of a patient with small cell lung cancer

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals the method has already been successfully tested on breast cancer cells.

Scientists will now try it on a range of other cancer cells.

The device creates a sound wave which pushes abnormal tumour cells to one side as they pass through, away from white blood cells.
Doctors generally use biopsies to diagnose or rule out cancer.
Most procedures only need a local anaesthetic and involve staying in hospital for a few hours.

But some times doctors have to use a general anaesthetic and patients have to stay in overnight.

The ops can cause a dull ache and patients may need stitches or a medical dressing.

Cr.Irish Mirror