Revolutionary method of detecting uterine cancer – Surgical knife detects it in seconds

A revolutionary tumor-locating surgical knife can diagnose uterine cancer in just seconds, according to a report in the Guardian. This is a revolutionary discovery by researchers at Imperial College London which could allow thousands of healthy women to have a faster picture of their health status.

The disease is the fourth most common cancer in women.

This is the iKnife, a device already used to treat breast and brain cancer that can now accurately detect the presence of endometrial cancer.

“The iKnife reliably diagnosed endometrial cancer within seconds, with a diagnostic accuracy of 89%, minimizing the current delays for women waiting for a histopathological diagnosis,” the Imperial College London team of researchers wrote in the journal Cancers. “The findings presented in this study may pave the way for new diagnostic avenues.”

The iKnife uses electrical currents to differentiate between cancerous and healthy tissue by analyzing the smoke emitted when the biopsy tissue is vaporized after it is removed from the uterus.

The researchers said its effectiveness was demonstrated using biopsy tissue samples from 150 women with suspected uterine cancer. The results were compared with current diagnostic methods. The team plans to launch a major clinical trial, which could lead to widespread use.

Athena Lamniso, chief executive of cancer charity Eve Appeal, which funded the research, said: “Waiting for test results is stressful – especially if that test tells us whether we have cancer or not.”

Professor Sadaf Ghaem-Maghami, who led the research at Imperial College London, said the diagnosis within seconds could allow women with confirmed cancer to start treatment sooner, while those deemed healthy would avoid stress weeks until the results are out.

“The iKnife has the potential to revolutionize the way we manage people who present as emergencies to our clinics with significant abnormal vaginal bleeding and have been referred for a possible diagnosis of endometrial cancer. With its high diagnostic accuracy of 89% and positive predictive value of 94%, one could immediately reassure the person of the very low chance of cancer if the iKnife result is negative and prompt further tests and scans or treatment for people whose biopsies show the presence of cancer. This could happen pending confirmation from the standard biopsy method, which can take up to two weeks,” the professor concluded.

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