Mid-surgery analysis of patient tissue could improve treatment

In partnership with clinicians at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, the researchers have installed a solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectrometer at St Mary’s Hospital to perform such procedures.

Researchers there will use the machine to analyse intact tissue samples from patients to investigate whether it can ultimately give surgeons detailed diagnostic information while they are undergoing surgery.

The science of metabonomics, which involves comprehensively measuring the metabolic changes in a person’s body, has been pioneered by the Imperial team over the last 20 years. Techniques from analytical chemistry, such as NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, can allow researchers to measure simultaneously all of the chemicals produced by the body’s metabolism.

With knowledge of which molecules correspond to which conditions in the body, this ‘metabolic fingerprint’ can provide a wealth of information about the state of a person’s health.

Metabonomics has previously been applied to samples of bodily fluids such as blood and urine to look for indicators of disease or of how a person might respond to a particular drug. Now the Imperial team’s NMR machine will analyse solid tissue samples from patients undergoing surgery with Imperial College Healthcare.