• Wireless device to provide new options f

    From ScienceDaily@1:317/3 to All on Monday, April 25, 2022 22:30:44
    Wireless device to provide new options for colorectal cancer treatment


    Date:
    April 25, 2022
    Source:
    Texas A&M University
    Summary:
    A team is developing an intracavity device that will allow doctors
    to eliminate leftover cancer cells during surgery, reducing the
    need for additional treatments such as chemotherapy.



    FULL STORY ==========================================================================
    For those diagnosed with colorectal cancer, surgery has been the only
    option that offers a solution. Unfortunately, surgery is frequently
    complicated by disease recurrence at the site of the original
    cancer when microscopic cancer cells are left behind at the time of
    surgery. Chemotherapy is a treatment option that is often given in
    conjunction with surgery, although it can lead to toxic side effects.


    ==========================================================================
    Dr. Sung II Park, assistant professor in the Department of Electrical
    and Computer Engineering and researcher in the Center for Remote Health Technologies and Systems at Texas A&M University, and his team are
    working to develop a low cost, minimally invasive wireless device that
    offers precise, safe treatment options for cancers.

    The researchers will utilize photodynamic therapy (PDT) during surgery
    by using a photosensitizer -- a drug activated by light -- to kill the
    cancer cells.

    During this process, surgeons will be able to remove the bulk of the
    tumor, then fully irradiate the tumor bed when the photosensitizer is
    activated by the light. This combination would result in a complete
    treatment in a safe and effective way with no toxic side effects.

    "The biocompatible, miniaturized implantable LED device will enable
    light dosing and PDT that is tailored to the individual tumor response,"
    Park said.

    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 facilities; it will also allow for treatment options to prevent the
    development of additional malignancy and therefore significantly improve
    the quality of life for people with cancer. This type of platform would
    also reduce the huge economic burden on oncology resources, which totaled
    $167 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 alone.

    In 2022, projected global oncology spending will reach $206 billion,
    a 23.35% increase.

    Further details about their device are published in the April issue of
    Nature Communications.

    Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common
    cancer worldwide, according to the American Institute for Cancer
    Research. According to the American Cancer Society, this year, an
    estimated 149,500 adults in the United States will be diagnosed with
    colorectal cancer and it's expected to cause about 52,980 deaths.

    Although photodynamic therapy has been shown to be effective in many
    solid tumor cancers, its clinical application has been limited by an
    incomplete understanding of the differing response of cancer and normal
    tissue, and a lack of methods to monitor tumor response and adjust light
    dosage accordingly.

    To address this gap, Park and his team have proposed a two-step procedure.

    First, the photosensitizer drug is administered, which is preferentially
    taken up by the tumor cells, and then the tumor is illuminated by
    non-thermal light at a wavelength that matches an absorption spectrum
    of the drug. Activation of the drug induces a photochemical reaction
    that triggers tumor cell death.

    "The intracavity device will provide a minimally invasive, biocompatible platform for light detection of residual cancers and delivery to tumor
    cells located in any part of the body, suggesting it could make an impact
    in the areas of breast, kidney, lung, pancreatic, prostate, ovarian and
    rare cancers," Park said.

    Other contributors to the research include several well-known researchers
    from the electrical and computer engineering department, the University
    of Leeds and Sun Moon University.

    This work was supported by grants from the interdisciplinary X-Grants
    Program, part of the President's Excellence Fund at Texas A&M, the 2018 National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression Young Investigator Awards from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation and
    the Precise Advanced Technologies and Health Systems for Underserved Populations Engineering Research Center. This work was also supported
    by a Wellcome Trust Institutional Strategic Support Fund Fellowship,
    a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Research Professorship,
    and an NIHR Senior Investigator Award.


    ========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Texas_A&M_University. Original
    written by Rachel Rose.

    Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


    ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
    1. Woo Seok Kim, M. Ibrahim Khot, Hyun-Myung Woo, Sungcheol Hong,
    Dong-Hyun
    Baek, Thomas Maisey, Brandon Daniels, P. Louise Coletta, Byung-Jun
    Yoon, David G. Jayne, Sung Il Park. AI-enabled, implantable,
    multichannel wireless telemetry for photodynamic therapy. Nature
    Communications, 2022; 13 (1) DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29878-1 ==========================================================================

    Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/04/220425144205.htm

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