New Pen Can Identify Cancer in 10 Seconds

Written by Ann Pietrbngelo, Healthline

Photo credit: Vivian Abagiu/Univ. of Texas at Austin

Doctors are cautiously optimistic about a new handheld device that researchers say can tell the difference between healthy tissue and cancerous tissue.

A new pen-sized mass spectrometry device has been developed by scientists at the University of Texas at Austin that can identify cancerous tissue in roughly 10 seconds. The advent of this tool not only makes surgeries faster and easier, it also makes them safer by reducing the amount of time a patient is under anesthesia and reducing the side-effects caused when healthy tissue is accidentally removed.

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