Genetic variation and cancer risk | Cancer Research UK

CHEMOTHERAPY IN THE ERA OF TARGETED THERAPIES

Chemotherapy has  been an important component of oncotherapy, limited only by the extensive damage that it caused on the normal cells.
More recently there has been an increase in the use of chemotherapy with the development of targeted therapies that reduce or prevent collateral damage of normal cells.




National Cancer of Institute videos on targeted therapies is a valuable resource available at
http://www.cancer.gov/flash/targetedtherapies/flex/main.html#app=931b&121b-id=M01-S01-A0

COLOR CODED SURGERY

Surgical excision is still the most used treatment in the treatment of malignant tumors. Yet, the level of success of the treatment depends  on extension of the excision beyond the margins of the tumor or establishing clear margins.

Decision on the clearance achieved can be made by intraoperative examination of the margin by the use of methods such as frozen sections and more recently imprint cytology.

The process however requires time that can extend up to an hour for the pathological evaluation of sections. During this time the surgical team has to stand by and the patient maintained under anesthesia. This delay further lengthens an often long surgical procedure and adds to the surgical risk. Additionally the finding of actual clearance is limited to the sites and  number of sections taken.

A technique that can color code the tumor affected tissue  and nerves healthy or otherwise has been developed and is under trial.  

Watch the video to find out more about the same by the surgeon  Queyn Nguyeninvolved in the development of the technique..

 

http://www.ted.com/talks/quyen_nguyen_color_coded_surgery

ANIMATION ON CHEMOTHERAPY - CANCER TREATMENT CENTER OF AMERICA

watch an informative and short animation on chemotherapy at:




http://www.cancercenter.com/video/cancer-types/medanim/chemotherapy/






There are also videos on biopsy, cancer diagnosis and recent advances at the site