Diagnosis of esophageal cancer: a pill instead of a biopsy
A pill on a string will help doctors in the diagnosis of esophageal cancer
Sergey Gray, Hi-News
Sometimes the simplest and most obvious solution to a problem is the most effective. In science and medicine, this happens all the time. Esophageal cancer is a deadly and very insidious disease, since it is usually diagnosed at a very late stage, when it is too late to do anything with the tumor. This is what prompted the team of Cambridge Professor Rebecca Fitzgerald to develop a simple and effective method for diagnosing this cancer.
The solution to the problem was a tiny pill with a strong thread attached to it. Inside the soluble shell is a black sponge, which scientists have named Cytosponge.
The patient swallows the tablet, washing it down with a large amount of water, while the doctor holds the end of the thread attached to it. In the stomach, the shell dissolves and the sponge, freed from its shackles, straightens to its normal size. The doctor gently pulls the sponge out through the esophagus, and it collects cells from its walls so that they can be examined.
Agree, this is much nicer than a biopsy, when doctors need to penetrate your esophagus with metal tools and pinch off a piece of your tissue. Even in the case of a biopsy, it is not a fact that specialists will be able to detect cancer in a sick person with 100% probability. A non–invasive method of collecting materials for analysis is a very important achievement for oncologists, because the survival rate for esophageal cancer is only 13%. Early diagnosis will save thousands of human lives.
Cytosponge is comparable in size to a regular multivitamin tablet. The entire analysis takes about five minutes, of which about three minutes is necessary for the stomach to be able to dissolve the capsule shell with a sponge. A tiny sponge collects about half a million cells on its way so that doctors can give an accurate answer to the question whether a person is sick or not. At the moment, researchers have already tested their "miracle sponge" on more than 2,000 patients. Cytosponge is planned to be brought to the commercial level soon.
Article by Ross-Innes et al. Whole-genome sequencing provides new insights into the clonal architecture of Barrett's esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma published in the journal Nature Genetics; on the University of Cambridge website you can read the press release ‘Pill on a string’ could help spot early signs of cancer of the gullet – VM.
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23.07.2015