Researchers have created a portable device that can detect colorectal and prostate cancer more cheaply and quickly than prevailing methods. The team believes the device may be especially helpful in developing countries, which experience higher cancer mortality rates due in part to barriers to medical diagnosis.

The microfluidic device uses an innovative paper-in-polymerpond structure in which patient blood samples are introduced into tiny wells and onto a special kind of paper. The paper captures cancer protein biomarkers within the blood samples in just a few minutes. The paper subsequently changes color, and the intensity of the color indicates what type of cancer is detected and how far it has progressed.

The device can analyze a sample in an hour — compared to 16 hours using some traditional methods. According to study results, the device is also about 10 times more sensitive than traditional methods even without using specialized instruments. That means the device can detect cancer biomarkers that are present in smaller quantities, typical of cancer in its early stages. A less-sensitive device may not pick up on the smaller quantities. (Image credit: University of Texas at El Paso)

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Topics:
Ingestibles and Lab-on-a-Chip Medical

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    This article first appeared in the January, 2025 issue of Medical Design Briefs Magazine (Vol. 15 No. 1).

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