Diagnosis by smoke
A prototype analyzer has been developed at the University of Tampere, Finland, which is able to identify malignant tissues during a neurosurgical operation and helps to excise tissues more carefully.
Electrosurgical resection using instruments such as an electric scalpel (diathermic blade) is currently widely used in neurosurgery. When the fabric melts, the molecules disperse in the form of smoke. The research team proposed a way to analyze its composition so that it would be possible to distinguish a malignant tumor from healthy tissue.
In modern clinical practice, the analysis of frozen sections is the gold standard for intraoperative identification of tumors. To do this, a small sample of the excised tumor is transferred to the pathologist, he conducts a microscopic analysis of the sample and reports the result to the surgeons in the operating room.
The new method proposed by Ilkka Haapala and co-authors is a more convenient and immeasurably faster way to identify malignant tissue in real time, allowing you to analyze several samples from different tumor sites without leaving the operating room.
The advantage of the development lies in the fact that the device can be integrated with the instruments already available in neurosurgical operating rooms.
The technology is based on differential ion mobility spectrometry, in which the ions of the smoke composition are captured and placed in an electric field. The distribution of ions in the electric field is tissue-specific, and the tissue can be identified based on the resulting odor.
During the study, 694 tissue samples taken from 28 brain tumors and control samples were analyzed.
The equipment used in the study was specially designed: this is a machine learning system that analyzes the composition of smoke using differential mobility spectrometry, and an electric scalpel that melts tissue to form smoke.
Analysis of all samples demonstrated 83% accuracy of the system. The indicator was higher with narrower and more specific settings. When comparing malignant tumors (gliomas) with control samples, the accuracy of determination was 94%, reaching 97% sensitivity and 90% specificity.
Article I. Haapala et al. Identifying brain tumors by differential mobility spectrometry analysis of diathermy smoke is published in the Journal of Neurosurgery.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on the materials of Tampere University: Artificial nose identifies malignant tissue in brain tumours during surgery.