Ultrasonic extraction of circulating tumor cells fom peripheral blood- a noninvasive method to keep the cells viable for later biomolecular analysis

I. González, L.J. Fernández, N. López, J. Berganzo, A. Martin, T. Gómez, M. Bouali, J.L. Soto, and A. Carrato
Proc 6th Int Conf Microtech. in Med. and Biol. MMB 2011, Vol. 83, pp: 60-61

The main goal of this work was the development of a non-invasive technology to isolate tumour cells circulating in peripheral blood, as a new detection technique for early detection of metastasis. A new ultrasonic lab-on-chip has been developed to isolate these cells with an efficiency level up to 70%. This technology is based on the ability of ultrasound to drag certain cells in suspension to locations of acoustic equilibrium, where they collect to be isolated. It exploits the difference of size, density and/or compressibility. This device is currently being optimized to reach efficiencies higher than 90% for its clinical application.