The British company, QuantuMDx, has developed a device that can identify all known types of cancer while the patient waits and decide the best drug for treatment.
The device makes use of advanced nanotechnology, analyzing submicroscopic amounts of tissue to work out the type of cancer, its genetic make-up and how far it has developed.
It will enable surgeons to immediately remove most, if not all of the tumor, and allow cancer specialists to prescribe the correct treatment regime according to the type of cancer developed.
The Q-cancer device, as it is known, can diagnose cancer in just 20 minutes and will allow doctors, nurses and pharmacists to quickly identify all known types of cancer while the patient waits.
Chief executive Elaine Warburton said: ‘Currently tumor samples are sent away to a centralized sequencing laboratory, which can take several weeks to turnaround results, usually at a very high price which is not routinely affordable to many economies.
‘As far as we are aware, QuantuMDx’s current underlying technologies, which can break up a sample and extract the DNA in under five minutes represents a world first for complex molecular diagnostics.
Professor John Burn, a renowned geneticist and the Newcastle University academic who is also medical director of QuantuMDx, said: ‘We have a world leading position to deliver complex DNA tumor testing to the routine pathology lab or even to the operating theater.
‘A low-cost device requiring no technical expertise will extract, amplify and analyze tumor DNA to make sure the patient gets the right treatment first time and without delay.’
Dr. Emma Smith, Cancer Research UK’s senior science information officer, said: ‘Using the latest technology to analyze tumors quickly and cheaply could make a real difference to cancer patients and it will need thorough testing to show it meets the standards required for routine use in the National Health Service (NHS).’
The technological breakthrough has the potential to prolong the lives of the 12 million newly diagnosed cancer sufferers around the world.
Of the 585,000 people who died in the UK in 2008, 246,000 had been diagnosed with cancer.
It is hoped the device will be used in the UK within the next three years.
The invented device is a partnership between private firm QuantuMDx, Newcastle University and Sheffield University.