Researchers at the University of Warwick have developed a new diamond-based sensor that they said could be a "game-changer" in detecting the spread of tumours.
The team said the new non-toxic and non-radioactive device was "ultra sensitive" and used the "unique properties of diamonds to diagnose metastasised breast cancer".
Metastasis is the process by which cancer spreads through a person's body - usually through lymph nodes.
The diamond sensor works by detecting a magnetic tracer fluid injected into a patient during or before breast cancer surgery. Researches said the sensor could then "locate the tracer fluid and pinpoint the lymph nodes to be surgically removed to stop the cancer spread".
The research was published in the Physical Review Applied journal, with the device developed with the help of staff at University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire.
First author Alex Newman, a PhD student in the Department of Physics at the University of Warwick said there was a demand for a "versatile non-toxic means of finding cancer".
