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Article

Title: Lasers, Ultrasound Let Doctors Eavesdrop on Skin Cancer

Author: Kincade, Kathy Article Type: Product Analysis
Source: Laser Focus World, v42 n12 p35(3) Publication Date: Dec 2006
  ISSN: 0740-2511
  Illustrations: Charts
URL of Publication: http://www.lfw.com

Researchers at the University of Missouri have been able to show that the use of photoacoustic detection allows them to detect the spread of skin-cancer cells in the blood by listening to the sound of the melanoma cells as they explode after having been stimulated by laser pulses. Photoacoustic detection combines pulsed laser energy with ultrasound. The team could detect melanoma cells obtained from patients, and they detected as few as 10 cells in a saline solution. Cells go through quick cycles of expansion as they heat up, and they experience shrinkage during cool down. The sudden changes generate acoustic waves. The melanin signature is easy to see in the blood, and the presence of melanin granules is a definite sign because only melanoma makes melanin appear in human blood. A quartz flow cell was employed as an excitation and acoustic-wave collection device, and latex microspheres with a diameter of 6.6 mu m were used as melanoma tissue phantoms to calibrate the system. The new blood test would allow physicians to use a much more precise method of monitoring for metastasis. The blood test could be done regularly in screenings for high-risk patients, and results would be available in 30 minutes.

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