Quicker, less invasive cancer detection

A Mississippi State research team is developing a cancer screening process that may allow physicians to more quickly diagnose malignancies without performing invasive biopsies. Utilising laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, or LIBS, scientists are seeking to precisely distinguish malignant and normal cells in real time by inserting a single optical fibre microprobe directly into suspicious tissue for a cancer diagnosis, including breast cancer.

MSU is seeking a patent for the technology devised by team leader Jagdish P Singh, a research professor with the Diagnostic Instrumentation and Analysis Laboratory - DIAL - and Shane Burgess, an assistant professor of basic science in the College of Veterinary Medicine.

The study shows that LIBS has great potential for (commercial) development as an in vivo diagnostic tool for cancer, and perhaps even other diseases.

DIAL officials said computer software will be developed to differentiate between cancer and normal tissue, based on the intensity and ratio of different trace elements present in the tissue cell. The researchers already have identified significant differences in the content of metals such as calcium, aluminium and iron between malignant and normal tissues.