‘iKnife’ By London's Imperial College Could Lead To Faster Tumour Removal Surgeries

For a life threatening disease like cancer precision and speed could mean the difference between life and death. In a regular tumour removal surgery like lumpectomy, patients have to spend a long time in the operating room during the surgery as the tissues being removed during the surgery have to be sent to the laboratory for analysis and it’s only after half an hour that the results are obtained for the surgeons to decide the course of the operation. Even after a lengthy surgery the ordeal is not over for about one-fifth of the patients who have to go back for another surgery to remove any cancerous tissue that might have been missed during the surgery. To get rid of these troubles, researchers at London's Imperial College have come up with the ‘iKnife’.


This electrosurgical knife cuts through the tissue using heat and analyses the smoke generated by the cut tissue with its in-built spectrometer to decide whether the tissue is cancerous or not within just three seconds. By this quick feedback researchers have predicted that operation could be reduced by thirty minutes and cut down on follow-up surgeries which could mean huge savings not just in terms of money but also time and not to mention the relief that the patients receive knowing that they do not have to go through another surgery. Zoltan Takats, the inventor of this device is now currently conducting clinical trials involving about 1,500 cancer patients and hopes to obtain regulatory approval within two to three years.

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