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New sensors can allow doctors to listen in on melanoma – “hearing” the spread of melanoma
10/26/2006 University of Missouri-Columbia researchers published a study in Optic Letters reporting that photoacoustic
sensors may enable oncologists to hear as few as 10 melanoma cells spreading through a patient’s bloodstream. The
researchers combined “laser techniques from optics and ultrasound techniques from acoustics” to listen in while a laser
caused melanoma cells to vibrate. As the cells contracted and expanded, they emitted crackling sounds characteristic of
melanin, which is present in melanoma cells but not elsewhere in the human bloodstream. Researchers say their method—
consisting of special microphones and computer analysis—could help to identify cancer cells circulating in patients’
bloodstreams through a simple, 30-minute screening session. They add that the technique could facilitate diagnosis of the
condition, which afflicts an estimated 62,000 Americans. (“In vivo photoacoustic flow cytometry for monitoring of circulating
single cancer cells and contrast agents” V.P Zharov et al.) Vladimir P. Zharov)