TURKISH PHYSICANS WORK ON INSTANT BIOPSY

ANTALYA (A.A) - 28.08.2009 - Turkish doctors developed optical biopsy prototype to determine instantly whether the brain tumors were cancerous before they were sent to pathology.
The team of physicans, led by Dr. Murat Canpolat of the Akdeniz University Faculty of Medicine, work on the optical biopsy prototype.
Canpolat said in the optical biopsy method, they send laser beams to the brain tumors to detect cancerous cells.
Canpolat said the team attended operation of 33 patients with brain tumors and detected the samples with optical biopsy method and later sent them for pathology department. 
"Result of the study will be published in the new edition of Journal of Biomedical Optics Magazine in the United States. The result is encouraging," he said.
Canpolat said the system targeted to see the cancerous cells in time, "the surgeon will either continue to take out the cancerous tissues or will stop after reaching to non-tumourous tissues. Under the current practice, the surgeon cleans the tumorous tissues and send them to pathology. The result can be seen in 20 minutes or in a few days. However, the optical biopsy will enable the surgeon to see the tumor instantly. The risk of extracting normal tissue or leaving tumorous tissue will be over."