tool based on mass spectrometry used successfully in brain cancer surgery

tool based on mass spectrometry used successfully in brain cancer surgery -

A tool to help brain surgeons test and remove cancerous tissue more precisely was successfully used during surgery, according to a Purdue University and Brigham and Women's Hospital study.

Purdue tool designed sprays a microscopic flow of charged solvent on the fabric surface to gather information on its molecular composition and produces a color code image which reveals the location, nature and concentration of tumor cells.

"in seconds this technique provides molecular information to detect residual tumor that otherwise might have been left in the patient," said R. Graham Cooks, Purdue professor who co- led the research team. "the instrumentation is relatively small and inexpensive and could easily be installed in operating rooms to help neurosurgeons. This study shows the enormous potential it has to improve patient care. "

Current surgical methods rely on the trained eye of the surgeon using a surgical microscope and imaging analysis performed before surgery, Cooks said.

"tumor tissue of the brain is very similar to healthy brain tissue, and it is very difficult to determine where the ends of the tumor and normal tissue begins," he said . "in the brain tissue millimeter can mean the difference between normal and altered function. molecular information beyond what a surgeon can see can help accurately and completely remove the cancer. "

The tool based on mass spectrometry was previously shown to accurately identify the type margins cancer, quality and tumor specimens collected during surgery on the basis of an assessment of the distribution and amounts of fat called lipids in tissue. This study took the analysis a step further evaluating also a molecule associated with the growth and cell differentiation, which is considered a biomarker for certain types of brain cancer, he said.

"We were able to identify a single biomarker metabolite which provides information on the classification of the tumor genotype and prognosis for the patient, "said Cooks, professor emeritus Henry Bohn Hass chemistry." with mass spectrometry all this information can be obtained from ' a biopsy in a few minutes without significantly interrupting the surgical procedure. "

For this study, which included the validation and use of samples in two patients' surgical procedures, the tool has been listening to identify the lipid metabolite 2-hydroxyglutarate or 2-HG. This biomarker is associated with more than 70 percent of gliomas and can be used to classify tumors, he said.

A paper detailing the results of the National Institutes of Health-funded study will be published in an upcoming issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and is published online.

In mass spectrometry molecules are electrically charged and turned into ions so that they can be identified by their mass. The new tool is based a mass spectrometry technique ambient analysis developed by Cooks and colleagues called desorption electrospray ionization, or DESI, which eliminated the need for chemical manipulations of samples and containment in a vacuum chamber for ionization. DESI enables ionization occurs directly on the outer surfaces of mass spectrometers, making the process much simpler, faster and more applicable to the surgical settings.

The torque tool a DESI mass spectrometer with a software program designed by the research team which uses the results to characterize brain tumors and detect boundaries between healthy and cancerous tissue. The program is based on previous studies of lipid patterns that correspond to different types and qualities of cancer and currently covers the two most common types of brain tumors, gliomas and meningiomas. Both types of tumors combined represent about 65 percent of all brain tumors and 80 percent of all malignant brain tumors, according to the American Brain Tumor Association.

additional classification methods and metabolic biomarkers could be added to adapt the tool for different types of cancer, Cooks said.

brain surgery was performed in the Advanced Multi-Modality guided by the image following the operation, or AMIGO at Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Dr. Nathalie Agar, director of the Molecular Imaging Laboratory surgery in the neurosurgery department at Brigham and Women's Hospital, led the study.