Electrosurgical scalpel and cold plasma combine to eradicate tumours

US Medical Innovations (USMI) and the Jerome Canady Research Institute for Advanced Biological and Technological Sciences (JCRI/ABTS) have led a team that has developed a pen-like electrosurgical scalpel that sprays a blue jet of cold plasma at microscopic cancer tumours remaining from surgery, targeting just tumours, ensuring no harm comes to surrounding tissue (In 2014 USMI developed and patented the first high-frequency electrosurgical generator with cold plasma for the selective treatment of cancer). This technology kills the tumours through toxic molecules which damage targeted cancerous tissue but do not affect normal biological tissue. Recruitment for the clinical trials will start in September.
JCRI/ABTS said: “Cold plasma application is the fourth arm for the treatment of cancer, following chemotherapy, radiation and surgery. There’s no other ‘magic bullet’ out there for killing off residual tissue.”
Alexey Shashurin, an assistant professor in Purdue University’s School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said: “Plasmas are very reactive, which can cause a variety of responses on the cellular level in biological tissue. But because they’re also extremely hot gases, there had been a push over the past 20 years to generate and test cold plasmas for biological applications.”