Use fluorescent dye to detect cancer cells

Doctors at the University of Pennsylvania (USA) are using experimental fluorescent dyes to brighten them, making them easier to remove from the body to increase survival rates for patients.

It was a normal lung tumor removal surgery. However, until the doctors turned off the lights, the patient's chest was still bright.

Dye helps detect cancer cells through scans before surgery.(PICTURES OF TAIPEI TIMES SCREEN).

On the patient's heart, a bright pink glow. Other shimmering lights shone in the lungs, according to The New York Times.

These lights indicate the point where cancer cells reside. Fluorescent dyes have helped create these lights. This is a new progress that may soon change the way surgery for hundreds of thousands of cases is performed each year.

Surgery is the best way to . If the disease recurs, it is usually because the cancer cells are still left or undetected. However, there is no good way to help surgeons know which cells are cancerous or not, because they look the same.

Now, this fluorescent dye is being tested to overcome that drawback, to prevent recurrence of cancer and increase survival rates for patients, according to AP.

Dr. Sunil Singhal of the University of Pennsylvania is also testing a dye based on Indiana scientists' research that can attach to proteins that are normally found in cancer cells. This dye helps detect cancer cells through tomography before surgery.