Author: Merentsova Anastasia
Translator: Issabayeva Madina
Copy editor: Kigbaeva Kamila
A group of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania in the United States, together with a team from Perelman Medical School and Sunil Singal of the Center for Precision Surgery at the Abramson Oncology Center, proposed using a dye that glows under near infrared radiation, which will help doctors to see the cancer cells in the patient's body and, as a result, to avoid relapse and spread of the disease.
For the study, the scientists used the indocyanine green (ICG) dye approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. For several years, the authors tested him on dogs. It was used to separate healthy tissues from cancers during animal operations. According to scientists, the accumulation of ICG in tumors is a consequence of the drug’s infiltration through rapidly growing blood vessels.
Researchers performed 41 breast tumors operations on 41 dogs. The operations were carried out as usual, with the exception of the ICG injection given to the animals the day before The surgeons under the nearest infrared light examined the wounds and surgical edges to find traces of the stain - it’s important for the successful outcome of the operation to leave a negative edge, that is to cut out the tumor, and a small amount of tissue around it to prevent a recurrence of cancer. The scientists could not find «dirty» edges, while at the same time drawing attention to the fact that such method allows to see oncological process spread to lymph nodes.
Today, radioisotopes are injected into the human chest to determine the draining, or "sentry", lymph nodes. According to the authors of this work, if visualization devices are used in near-infrared light (e.g., ICG), radiotherapy will not be required.
Research into the effectiveness and safety of this method is ongoing. According to the authors of the work, in the future, the use of this dye will provide an invaluable service to patients with breast cancer who would like to save their breasts after surgery, and also helps to reduce the risk of recurrence of the oncological process.
Source: https://naked-science.ru/article/medicine/svetyashhijsya-krasitel-mozhet-pomoch-v-udalenii-raka
