A DEVICE that uses lasers to spot cancer cells by testing how stretchy they are is showing early promise in tests. The technique identifies cancer cells quickly and reliably, and could tell doctors in advance whether a tumour is likely to spread to other parts of the body.
Pathologists routinely look for cancer cells in samples taken from patients. Cancer cells are known to stretch and lose their elasticity, and under the microscope appear deformed compared with healthy cells. But it takes a well-trained eye to spot cancer in its early stages.
Jochen Guck, a physicist at Leipzig University in…
