less invasive technique detects childhood tumor

                                
Alexandra Munoz, 5, who lost their hair due to chemotherapy to treat a malignant brain tumor


A group of scientists from the Chemistry Institute of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) is introducing in Brazil an innovative technique, developed in the United States to detect brain cells with cancer during surgery.

The method, which uses a mass spectrometer to make molecular diagnosis of cancer, will be applied in a hospital in Campinas to detect cancer cells during surgery in the brain of children.

"The technique should increase accuracy in surgery and reduce the risk of deaths and sequelae, and accelerate the recovery process of patients," said Marcos Eberlin, the ThoMSon Laboratory of Mass Spectrometry, Unicamp.

The conventional procedure for operating brain cancer is to take tissue samples (biopsy) and analyzing its morphology under a microscope to check for tumor. "But often, the shape and appearance of the tissue generate questions, which usually takes the surgeon to remove debris that need not be removed."

With the new technique the harvested tissue biopsy is analyzed in a mass spectrometer, chemically identifying cancer cells. Such molecular diagnostic acts as a "chemical scanning". "Passing a probe on the tissue fragments, we get on the computer screen a colored image showing clearly the exact surface to be removed."

Application
The researchers tested the technique in the Centro Infantil Boldrini in Campinas, and were able to classify and map brain tumors in children and adolescents tissue samples. After checking the success of the technique, the center acquired a mass spectrometer that will be used for molecular diagnostics in real time during surgery.

The new technique began to be drawn up four years ago, when the daughter of Eberlin, chemical Livia Eberlin, did his doctorate at Purdue University in the United States, in the laboratory of Graham Cooks, one of the world's leading experts in spectrometry pastas. The researcher tested the first method in a laboratory of the School of Medicine at Harvard University.

"She was the first person to lead a mass spectrometer into an operating room," Eberlin said.


According to the scientist, the mass spectrometer will be purchased for the Centro Infantil Boldrini will be purchased with the Ministry of Health resources. "We are not discarding the pathologist. It is the chemical that makes the diagnosis. We're giving them a new tool" , Eberlin said.