Russian developers offer new methods to thwart cancer September 28, 2016, 11:36

Shvabe, a Moscow-based R&D holding company, has developed a system for barely invasive destruction of tumors. It is a device that can use radio frequency to obliterate tumors and metastases. During the procedure, needle electrodes are inserted into a tumor with high frequency current between them. As a result, the tumorous tissue gets heated to as much as 100 degrees Celsius. That causes the tumor to disintegrate, while electric current «sears» the blood vessels, thus stopping bleeding. The new instrument is reportedly precise enough to enable the destruction of cancerous cells with as little damage of surrounding healthy tissues as possible.

According to Shvabe deputy CEO Dmitry Zhidkov, «we’re currently prepared to launch serial production of this model of the system.»

At the Novosibirsk State University (NSU) in Siberia, researchers have developed an express test solution to pinpoint cancer at early stages. It is based on analysis of inelastic (frequency-changing) light scattering spectra in a patient’s blood plasma. As cancerous cells start developing in a person, his blood plasma reveals an increased content of proteins and carotenes, which leads to a difference in inelastic light scattering spectra change in cancer patients and in healthy people. It takes a physician just a few minutes to complete a test, the developers claim, and no more blood is required for the procedure than it is to draw blood from one’s vein for standard tests.