Stanford nanotech project may find tumors.
"Stanford scientists are blending the latest in nanotechnology with a quirky light effect discovered in the 1920s to create a new way to scan for tumors - a process that is potentially safer and more sensitive than current cancer screens.
Using a beam of laser light projected on the skin surface, the technique can spot with extraordinary precision tiny particles that have been injected into the bloodstream and attach themselves to cancer cells.
"The goal is to detect the fewest number of cancer cells possible," said Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, the Stanford radiology professor who is developing the approach.
Today's most advanced cancer diagnostic tools, such as PET scans, can pick up a tumor about 5 millimeters wide - containing tens of millions of cancerous cells. The new technique, called Raman imaging, has the potential to detect microscopic clumps of only a few hundred cancer cells."
"Stanford scientists are blending the latest in nanotechnology with a quirky light effect discovered in the 1920s to create a new way to scan for tumors - a process that is potentially safer and more sensitive than current cancer screens.
Using a beam of laser light projected on the skin surface, the technique can spot with extraordinary precision tiny particles that have been injected into the bloodstream and attach themselves to cancer cells.
"The goal is to detect the fewest number of cancer cells possible," said Dr. Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, the Stanford radiology professor who is developing the approach.
Today's most advanced cancer diagnostic tools, such as PET scans, can pick up a tumor about 5 millimeters wide - containing tens of millions of cancerous cells. The new technique, called Raman imaging, has the potential to detect microscopic clumps of only a few hundred cancer cells."
