Earlier detection of cancer with nano liquid

[Kaat72]

Earlier detection of cancer with nano liquid
Thanks to a new technique, cancer can be detected at an earlier stage, using nano liquid metastases, visible from only two millimeters in lymph nodes. Radboud medical center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands was the first patient treated with this technique.

The hospital owns all rights of the fluid and may treat twelve patients per month. For doctors from other hospitals, a training program will be drawn up.
The nano-fluid causes metastases to light up on a scan. As a result, doctors can treat cancer much easier targeted. This saves patients operations and gives them better chances of recovery, says researcher and radiologist Jelle Barents to the site of the hospital.

Eight millimeter
Without the liquid with MRI scans, just seventy percent of the metastases less than eight millimeters are detected. They will also be missed by forty percent of patients with minimally invasive surgery. As a result, people are walking around with more metastases, without them knowing it.
The nano-fluid consists of small iron particles which are injected by a doctor into a vein in the arm. After 24 hours, the patient returns for an MRI scan.

Other types of cancer
In the research patients with prostate cancer participated. The method also works with other types of cancer, such as breast cancer. For now the hospital still focuses on patients with recurrent prostate cancer or an increased risk of metastases in the lymph nodes.
(Feb 12, 04.52 PM)

Excuse me if the language is a bit odd. Blame it on Google Translate

 

[Rukbat]

The language (and the news) is fantastic - for those with cancers that metastasize to the lymph glands. Unfortunately some of the deadliest kinds don't.

 

[Rxpert83]

Do you have a source for this kaat? I'd be really interested in tracking down the scientific literature.

 

[Kaat72]

Do you have a source for this kaat? I'd be really interested in tracking down the scientific literature.

This news is only a day old, and this article is in Dutch, sorry:
Link

 

[Xyro]

Do you have a source for this kaat? I'd be really interested in tracking down the scientific literature.

This news is only a day old, and this article is in Dutch, sorry:
Radboudumc*-*Februari 2014*-*Nano-MRI vergroot genezingskans prostaatkanker

Found it, the paper is from January 2013.

Geographical distribution of lymph node metastases on MR lymphography in prostate cancer patients

Long story short, the 'super nano fluid' is "ultrasmall superparamagnetic particles of iron oxide". Healthy lymph nodes will take up the iron through the action of macrophages (a type of white blood cell that engulfs and tries to destroy anything nasty it finds), whereas metastatic lymph nodes will not. An MRI can differentiate between the two.

 

[Slug]

A few years ago this was the stuff of sci-fi writers; now it's reality. See also BBC News - Lasers used in meningitis tests by Strathclyde University scientists for another medical application of nano particles, this time silver.

Early diagnosis is key, so these new techniques may just be the key to saving countless lives in the future.

 

[Xyro]

Early diagnosis is key, so these new techniques may just be the key to saving countless lives in the future.

Well, this technology would be useful for people who didn't catch it early. Once the cells in a primary tumour gain the ability to move around the body and form secondary tumours (which is what the term metastasis refers to), it becomes much more deadly and far harder to treat. Even more reason why this sort of research is so valuable.