Dr. Sung II Parkprofessor at the Department of electrical and computer engineering and researcher at the Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems at Texas A&M University, together with his team, he is working to develop a low cost wireless device and minimally invasive that offers precise and safe treatment options for cancers.
Especially for the colorectal cancers, surgery has been the only option to date that has offered a silution. However, it should be specified that surgery is difficult to apply to a possible relapse of the disease at the original cancer site when microscopic tumor cells are left at the time of surgery.
To this is added chemotherapy, a treatment that is frequently administered in conjunction with surgery, despite the known toxic side effects. The new wireless device would be particularly suitable for the treatment of this tumor and in the next paragraphs it will be explained why.
The results of the study have been published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
Wireless Cancer Device: Here’s How It Works
In order to develop the wireless device, the technicians will leverage photodynamic therapy (PDT) during surgery using a photosensitizer, a light-activated drug, which will suppress cancer cells. During this process, surgeons will be able to excise most of the tumoral mass, then fully irradiate the tumor bed when the photosensitizer is activated by light. This combination could be applied in a complete treatment safely and effectively without toxic side effects.
“The miniaturized, biocompatible implantable LED device will enable light dosing and PDT tailored to the individual tumor response,” said Park.
In the long term, the work will result in a platform that has the potential to provide clinical-quality health monitoring capabilities for continuous use beyond the confines of traditional hospital or laboratory settings.
The platform will also enable therapeutic options to prevent the development of further malignancies and thus significantly improve the quality of life of those affected by cancer. This type of platform would also reduce the huge economic burden on cancer resources, which in 2020 alone amounted to US $ 167 billion. In 2022, projected global spending on oncology will reach $ 206 billion, an increase of 23.35%.
Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the world, according to the American Institute for Cancer Research. According to data from the American Cancer Society, approximately 149,500 adults in the United States will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer in 2022 and is expected to cause approximately 52,980 deaths.
Although col photodynamic therapy has been shown to be effective in many solid tumors, its clinical application has been limited by an incomplete understanding of the different response of cancer and normal tissue and the lack of methods to monitor tumor response and adjust accordingly. the dosage of light.
To find a solution to this problem, Park and his team proposed a two-step procedure. First, the photosensitizing drug is administered, which is preferably absorbed by the tumor cells, and then the tumor is illuminated by non-thermal light at a wavelength that corresponds to the absorption spectrum of the drug. Activation of the drug induces a photochemical reaction that triggers the death of cancer cells.
“The wireless intracavity device will provide a minimally invasive and biocompatible platform for light detection of residual tumors and delivery to cancer cells located anywhere in the body, suggesting that it could impact areas of the breast, kidney, lung, pancreas and prostate, ovarian and rare cancers, ”concluded Park.
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