Washington, Dec 17 (PTI) Using light-emittingnanoparticles, scientists, including those of Indian-origin,have developed a highly effective method to detect tinytumours and track their spread, potentially leading to earliercancer detection.
The study, published in the journal Nature BiomedicalEngineering, showed that the new method is better thanmagnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other cancer surveillancetechnologies.
The ability to spot early tumours that are starting tospread remains a major challenge in cancer diagnosis andtreatment, as most imaging methods fail to detect smallcancerous lesions.
However, the study shows that tiny tumours in mice can bedetected with the injection of nanoprobes, which aremicroscopic optical devices, that emit short-wave infraredlight as they travel through the bloodstream – even trackingtiny tumours in multiple organs.
The nanoprobes were significantly faster than MRIs atdetecting the minute spread of tiny lesions and tumours in theadrenal glands and bones in mice.
"Cancer cells can lodge in different niches in the body,and the probe follows the spreading cells wherever they go,"said Vidya Ganapathy, from the Rutgers University in the US.
The technology could be used to detect and track the 100-plus types of cancer, and could be available within fiveyears, said Prabhas V Moghe, from the Rutgers University.
Real-time surveillance of lesions in multiple organsshould lead to more accurate pre- and post-therapy monitoringof cancer.
"You can potentially determine the stage of the cancerand then figure out whatÂ’s the right approach for a particularpatient," Moghe said. PTI SNE MHNSNE.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.