Led by a research team from NYU Langone Health, the new study describes the development of Ultra-Rapid droplet digital PCR, or UR-ddPCR, which the team found can measure the level of tumor cells in a tissue sample in only 15 minutes while also being able to detect small numbers of cancer cells (as few as five cells per square millimeter).

The researchers say their tool is fast and accurate enough, at least in initial tests on brain tissue samples, to become the first practical tool of its kind for detecting cancer cells directly using mutations in real time during brain surgery.

The researchers showed that UR-ddPCR had markedly faster processing speed than standard ddPCR, short for droplet digital polymerase chain reaction. Standard ddPCR can accurately quantify tumor cells, but it typically takes several hours to produce a result, making it impractical as a surgical guide.