New imaging technique 'lights up' cancer cells

A new imaging technique that "lights up" cancer cells may eventually help surgeons remove all of a cancer the first time, according to a preliminary study. "When a patient has cancer, the surgeon tries to find the tumor and cut it out," explained study senior author Dr. David Kirsch, a professor in the department of pharmacology and cancer biology, and the department of radiation oncology at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C. "However, there can sometimes be microscopic residual cancer left behind that the surgeon can't see. "So this imaging technique," he added, "is meant to help the surgeon see the cancer during the operation, to avoid the patient having to go in for a second operation."