The difficulty of brain cancer surgery is: how much should it be cut? Unlike other cancer surgeries, a large number of brain tumors may result in patients with intellectual impairment and even physical disability. American scientists used laser pointer technology experiments, claiming to be able to accurately determine the size of brain tumors and remove them.
Using this technique called stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) microscopy, the research team of the University of Michigan Medical School and Harvard University has removed brain tumors for 360 patients, but it has not yet been put into clinical use. The specific operation method is that when the operating room emits a laser beam to the brain tissue of the patient and encounters different chemical components of cancer cells or common brain tissue, the laser will change differently, so the edge of the brain tumor is determined.
"Brain cancer is like a cloud that can determine its core, but its edge is difficult to determine," the BBC quoted Daniel Olinger, one of the researchers, on the 7th. In the surgery to treat other cancers, doctors can also remove some unrelated parts around the tumor to prevent cancer recurrence, such as intestinal cancer. However, the human brain has no irrelevant parts, which makes the question of how much surgical removal of brain tumors is particularly sensitive.
Allinger said that SRS microscopy can make brain tumor removal surgery "more efficient, safer and more accurate." The research results of green laser pointer are published in the British journal "Nature·Biomedical Engineering". Whether this surgical method can improve the survival rate of brain cancer patients is currently unknown.