Glowing chemical 'could aid brain cancer surgery'

[nitpicker]

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-46073972

Glowing chemical 'could aid brain cancer surgery'

By Alex Therrien
Health reporter, BBC News

8 hours ago


A chemical that makes brain tumours glow pink could help surgeons to remove the cancer safely, a trial suggests. Scientists gave people with suspected glioma a drink containing 5-ALA, a substance known to accumulate in fast-growing cancer cells. The pink glow the chemical causes was found in people with the most aggressive cancers. Researchers hope it will make it easier for surgeons to distinguish between cancer cells and healthy brain tissue.

Treatment for glioma, the most common form of brain cancer and the one that killed ex-Labour cabinet minister Dame Tessa Jowell, usually involves surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible, and the prognosis for patients is often poor.

For this new trial, 99 patients with suspected high-grade (fast-growing) gliomas were given a drink containing 5-ALA before surgery. Research has previously shown that 5-ALA ends up in fast-growing cancer cells, because they lack an enzyme needed to break down the chemical. Surgeons used microscopes to help them look for fluorescent tissue while removing tumours from the patients' brains.

During their operations, surgeons reported seeing fluorescence in 85 patients. Of these, 81 were confirmed by pathologists to have high-grade disease, one was found to have low-grade disease and three could not be assessed.

In the 14 patients in whom surgeons did not see any fluorescence, seven tumours were found to be low-grade gliomas while the other seven could not be assessed.
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