Brain cancer is one of the hardest diseases to treat for many different reasons, but this probe that's going to cost a fraction than expensive MRI scans may drastically improve a patient's survival.
If a person has brain cancer, the first line of defense is surgery to remove the tumor and then all traces of cancer. Sometimes they are successful, but mostly they are not as many of these cancer cells are get deeper into the brain tissues, becoming more invasive. These types of cells may not be easily detected by conventional scans such as MRI until they have grown large enough.
But even if they are visible, there's the problem of removing them as they doctors may not know the real extent of the spread of cancer.
These may finally change by the creation of Raman spectroscopy. Also known as a Raman probe, it was developed by Montreal Neurological Institute.
The probe is very easy to use. During the surgery, the probe may be inserted and placed near or at the targeted area. The data obtained by the device are then fed to a computer in real time. Based on the images, they can then identify which sections have to be removed or devise a more innovative way to minimize as many side effects as possible.
The scope can identify dense tumors and scattered cancer cells that may be as deep as a millimeter.
The probe has already gone through an initial trial where doctors used it to more than 15 patients who were diagnosed with advanced stages of glioma. They had also tested it in additional 40 patients who didn't experience any serious side effects. Now the team is trying to determine the length of survival the device can provide to patients.
As early as now, however, they believe that the probe can certainly help in increasing a patient's life span not only in terms of months but also years.
