Scientists are continually seeking new ways of targeting cancer – and the latest is high-tech goggles. Currently doctors have two main approaches; bombard the tumour with drugs and radiotherapy or cut it out. The second option is very common but not always successful, because it is often also impossible to tell where the tumour ends and healthy tissue begins.
To try and combat this surgeons often remove tissue surrounding the tumour, but cancerous cells often remain, necessitating further surgery. But a new goggle technology being developed in the US lets surgeons "see" which cells are cancerous and which are healthy, increasing the chances that they will be able remove all cancer cells in one operation.
"The technology is quite amazing – almost like having a microscope to guide your surgery in the operating room," says Dr Ryan Fields, a surgeon involved in a pilot study of the device.