Optical fibre probe differentiates breast cancer tissue from normal tissue

The device, developed at University of Adelaide, could help prevent follow-up surgery, which is currently needed for 15-20 per cent of breast cancer surgery patients where all the cancer is not removed.

Published in Cancer Research, the researchers at the University’s ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics (CNBP), the Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing, and the Schools of Physical Sciences and Medicine, describe how the optical probe works by detecting the difference in pH between the two types of tissue. The research was in collaboration with the Breast, Endocrine and Surgical Oncology Unit at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.

"We have designed and tested a fibre-tip pH probe that has very high sensitivity for differentiating between healthy and cancerous tissue with an extremely simple - so far experimental - setup that is fully portable," said project leader Dr Erik Schartner, postdoctoral researcher at the CNBP at the University of Adelaide. "Because it is cost-effective to do measurements in this manner compared to many other medical technologies, we see a clear scope for this technology in operating theatres."