It is being developed by researchers in Milwaukee. They found that cancer cells give off electrical signals. The cancer wand can detect those signals.
So, during surgery, doctors could pass it inside the breast cavity to determine if they have removed all evidence of the disease.
"Give the surgeon a chance, real time, during the operation to get rid of...what we call residual cancer," said wand inventor Bill Gregory.
Gregory and his partner are also testing electrical signals in mammograms. They say it would be more comfortable, would not involve radiation, and could detect cancerous versus non-cancerous tissue.
At best, the wand could be in use by 2015. He mammogram is expected to take longer.
