A new technique could analyse tumours mid-surgery
It would be fast enough to guide the hands of neurosurgeons
![Patient undergoes brain surgery.](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/content-assets/images/20240706_STP004.jpg)
LÉO WURPILLOT was ten years old when he learned he had a brain tumour. To determine its malignancy, sections of the tumour had to be surgically removed and analysed. Now 19, he recalls the anguish that came with the subsequent three-month wait for a diagnosis. The news was good, and today Mr Wurpillot is a thriving first-year biomedical student at Cardiff University. But the months-long post-operative anticipation remains hard for patients to bear. That wait may one day be a thing of the past.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “The brains of the operation”
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