Healthier image

Researchers at Dundee University are investigating a technique that magnetises diseased body tissue to improve the effectiveness of keyhole surgery.

By giving the tissue magnetic properties, they hope to allow better imaging before and during an operation, as well as improving methods for checking its spread.

Surgeons are constantly looking for ways of imaging, holding, cutting and repairing diseased tissue while lowering the chance of injury to the patient.

The development of minimally invasive keyhole surgery has done much to reduce post-operative pain, scarring, and the risk of infection. However, surgeons are limited in what they can see and feel, as well as in the range of instruments they can pass through the keyhole.

'If the tissue can be magnetised in a biocompatible fashion, this opens up therapeutic avenues in dealing with disorders such as small cancers,' said research leader Prof Sir Alfred Cuschieri of the department of surgery and oncology. 'When a surgeon touches a tumour with a toothed instrument such as a grasper it can spill cells back into the body.'