Sensitive cancer test

Speaking at the

conference Physics 2005 in

on Tuesday 12th April, scientists revealed a new test for cancer, more sensitive than any existing technique and capable of predicting for the first time whether a tumour has spread.

Unlike existing techniques which rely on expert visual assessment or unreliable biochemical measurements, the “optical stretcher” tests the physical strength of each cell and can give a diagnosis using as few as 50 cells, allowing doctors to test for cancer where traditional biopsies are dangerous or even impossible. The ability to measure the progress of a cancer by examining only the primary tumour should reduce the number of unnecessary and traumatic mastectomies in women with breast cancer.

Professor Josef Käs and Dr Jochen Guck from the University of Leipzig have been developing the new procedure for several years and this week described how the system is being tested, both to screen for oral cancers and in the “staging” of breast cancer tumours.