Cancer patients in Newcastle will soon be injected with a special dye that makes tumours glow green - as part of a new trial experts hope will make it easier for surgeons to remove the tumour in question.
The trial will affect those with sarcoma - a rate form of cancer affecting areas of our bodies which "connect, support and surround" our organs. Usually, to be sure of removing all of the cancer, a surgeon has to remove some healthy cells too. This is then checked in a lab to ensure the cancer hasn't spread further.
However, thanks to support from the National Institute for Health and Care Research, medics at the Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust will now be able to trial a new technique which sees a special green dye injected into patients. The harmless dye called "indocyanine green" makes a tumour glow green under infrared light, but it "clears away" from healthy cells.
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This helps surgeons to know which cells are healthy and which are not, hopefully minimising the impact of surgery - which can sometimes require lots of healthy cells to be removed, and occasionally even amputation. The project follows on from work developed by surgeon Kenny Rankin and funded by the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.
Mr Rankin, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon, said: "Surgery to remove sarcomas involves taking away some of the surrounding healthy tissue to make sure no cancer cells are left behind.
"Unfortunately, removing this tissue can have a significant impact on the appearance and function of the body part affected by the tumour, and further surgery is sometimes needed. We hope that this new technique will help surgeons to remove the healthy tissue in a more precise way, with the aim of reducing the impact of surgery for patients and improving their quality of life."
Rebecca Maier, co-lead of the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation's cancer trials design team, said the fund - part of Newcastle Hospitals Charity - was delighted to have played a role in the development of the technology. She added: "Many members of the Sir Bobby Robson team are also part of the research team, so we will be helping with the work to further develop and conduct the research over the coming years."
As part of the trial, patients will be selected at random to receive either the new treatment or the traditional procedure - and the research team will then compare the results.
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