Diamonds could help recognize cancer through pioneering new technology

Scientists have developed a diamond sensor that could make it easier for doctors to recognize the spread of cancer.

Researchers at the University of Warwick have created a handheld device that is tracked tiny magnetic particles that are injected into the body.

The scientists said this offers an non -toxic alternative to radioactive tracers and dyes that are currently being used in hospitals.

The metastasis is, when cancer cells spread from the original tumor to other body parts, one of the most serious challenges in cancer treatment.

Doctors often rely on tests to determine whether the cancer has reached the lymph nodes – the areas of the tissue, filtering the liquid in your body for harmful substances – can guide decisions about the operation and further care.

The results, published in Physical review appliedDescribe how diamonds can be used to build a highly sensitive sensor that can identify the magnetic tracer fluid injected in a tumor.

This liquid, which consists of iron oxide nanoparticles, travels through the body alongside cancer cells and shows whether they have reached the lymph nodes, the researchers said.

The main author Alex Newman, a doctoral student of the Warwick University physics department, said the new tool could improve the way doctors find cancer in keyhole and endoscopic surgery.

“There is a real demand for versatile non -toxic means to find cancer,” he said.

“For this new diamond-based sensor, we have managed to reach the size of the sensor head to just 10 millimeters, which means that it is the first diamond sensor that can prove magnetic tracer fluid and at the same time is small enough for endoscopic use and a key hole surgery.”

Mr. Newman added that the device was extremely sensitive and that only a hundredth of the typical dose of magnetic tracer fluid could capture.

The design uses a diamond with only half a cubic millimeter next to a small permanent magnet, the scientists said, the scientists said

They added that this compact structure means that no bulky electronics are required, so that the sensor can be used by hand in operating sessions.

Professor Gavin Morley, who heads the research group, said that thanks to nitrogen snaps in the diamond, the breakthrough was possible.

“These allow the diamond to recognize very small changes in the magnetic field and to give the diamonds a nice pink color,” he said.

He added that the technology could also be used as medicine, also in spacecraft and merger.

Current techniques for the pursuit of cancer cells rely on radioactive tracers that not all hospitals can access, or on blue dyes that trigger allergic reactions in some patients, according to the researchers.

Clinicers who are involved in this new project believe that the new diamond sensor could help avoid these complications.

Stuart Robertson, an advisory breast cancer surgeon in the University Clinics Coventry and Warwickshire, said that he is already using a magnetic localization in his work. He added that it offers more advantages over traditional techniques.

Researchers say that the device could finally be applied to different types of cancer, including lung, liver, intestinal and esophagus tumors.