Cancer is a disease that can be difficult to treat. There's no medicine a person takes two times a day for a week and suddenly they're cured. However, researchers have been working on certain innovative ideas and inventions that might just make treatment for cancer easier and more effective.
Project InnerEye
Tumor cells are extracted from the blood of a cancer patient so an oncologist can sequence their DNA and decide on a course of treatment. Still, doctors can't analyze the patient's mutations and results while also combing through countless studies and clinical trials.
Artificial Intelligence can scan through millions of data on the internet in a second, which is why it is a great tool that can aid with patient treatment. For instance, Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge uses an AI deep-learning tool called Project InnerEye.
The AI is capable of analyzing patient data and identifying the tumors on their scans. It processes CTs and generates possible treatments faster, cutting the usual time it takes by 90%. Dutch researchers used an algorithm with intelligent search behavior to make this possible.
DaVinci
Precision is just among the things that can be programmable, that is why surgical robots can help with surgical techniques that are impossible for a person alone. The robots will manage the maneuvers and the doctors will hold the knowledge and experience of surgery.
With this kind of precision in surgery, tumors that are hard to extract due to their proximity to sensitive organs may become more possible. It's capable of suturing, dissecting, and retracting tissue, as mentioned by Medical Futurist, leaving little room for error.
Real-Time Imaging Device
One of the ways a patient can get rid of their cancer is by undergoing surgery and having it removed. However, it's entirely possible for some cancer to be left behind, causing patients to return for a second operation., which happens to 20% of breast cancer operations.
OncoRes Medical's imaging device uses AI to identify tumors and healthy tissue. This provides essential information for surgeons who will perform a lumpectomy. This can reduce the percentage of operations that return because of undetected malignant cancer cells.
Cryo-EM
Cryo-electron microscopy is capable of capturing images that are 1/10,000 the width of a human hair. It will take hundreds of thousands of photos and researchers will scan through these to find one of quality that will be reconstructed into 3D images of molecules.
They can then study how the molecules behave, which can lead to discovering how cancer cells grow, survive, replicate, and react to therapies and other cells. This could provide medical experts with information that can help create more forms of treatment.
CRISPR
Last but not least is CRISPR. It is a technology that can be used to change the genetic code of living cells. According to Cancer.gov, it can precisely delete, insert, and edit specific parts of DNA inside cells. The key discoveries were made by Drs. Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier.
There are already clinical trials with CRISPR-made cancer immunotherapies. Cancer is caused by changes in a person's DNA, also called genetic changes. Gene editing can be a powerful tool to make a significant difference in cancer research.
