MAS SPEC PEN

The MasSpec Pen, or the preciso MasSpec Pen System, is a mass spectrometry (MS) based cancer detection and diagnosis system that can be used for ex vivo and in vivo tissue sample analysis. It is used for real-time non-destructive cancer diagnosis. The surgeons use this to know when they have removed all the cancer tissue during a tumor excision. Scientists at the University of Texas and Baylor College Medical Center designed the Mas Spec Pen.

It is used during cancer surgery, to the tissue surface for just a few seconds, during which time the pen releases a single water droplet onto the tissue. The water droplet, which picks up small biomolecules from the tissue, is then sucked back into the and pen transferred via tubing to a mass spectrometer. The spectrometer performs a quick molecular analysis, and the word “Normal” or “Cancer” is automatically displayed. The surgeon then knows which tissue to remove and which tissue to leave alone. The whole process takes 10 seconds or less.

The system collects biological molecules from a tissue sample surface via a solid-liquid extraction mechanism and transports the molecules to a mass spectrometer for analysis. The composition of the extracted molecules can then be used to predict if the tissue sample analyzed contains cancerous cells using machine learning algorithms and statistical models. In early stage clinical research, the MasSpec Pen system was able to distinguish various cancer tissues, including thyroid, breast, lung, and ovarian tumor tissues, from their normal counterparts with an overall accuracy of 96.3%.

The invention of the MasSpec Pen was in 2017. Within the laboratory, the device has been used to analyze human tissue biopsies, including normal and cancerous breast, lung, ovarian, and thyroid samples. The MasSpec Pen is currently being evaluated for use on freshly excised tissue biopsies and for intraoperative use during oncology surgeries

The device was initially used to analyse 253 human tissue biopsies, including normal and cancerous breast, lung, ovary, and thyroid tissues The mass spectra obtained for each sample contained metabolites, lipids, and some proteins that were representative of the molecular composition of the tissue analyzed. The collected data for each tissue type was then used to develop statistical models that could discriminate between the normal and cancer samples of each tissue type. The method allowed for diagnosis of the breast tissues with 95.6% accuracy lung with 96.8% accuracy, and ovary with 94.7% accuracy Statistical models also allowed for the discrimination of normal thyroid from papillary thyroid carcinomas with 97.8% accuracy and from follicular thyroid adenomas with 94.7% accuracy

The MasSpec Pen has also been implemented for the detection of pancreatic cancer during excision procedures. The MasSpec Pen was used on both ex vivo and in vivo tissue samples to discriminate between healthy pancreas and pancreatic tumor tissue. The device was also used to detect cancerous margins near adjacent structures of the pancreas such as the bile duct. The system was used in 18 pancreatic cancer surgeries and the data collected allowed the detection of cancerous tissue with high accuracy.