RSSI found this fascinating Ted Talks segment by Dr. Quyen Nguyen on a simple yet potentially powerful technology to enhance the accuracy of surgery that uses color (chemically induced fluorescence) to show (highlight) certain body parts . In essence, this technology will color code specific body structures so that surgeons can literally see where to cut; thus, increasing a surgeon’s precision.
As Ms. Nguyen states in her talk, medical students learn anatomy using color coded textbook illustrations. The diagram on the left shows nerves in yellow, arteries are red and veins are blue – simple right? But in actual surgery, as shown in the right photo, it is not so easy to differentiate discrete structures.
Imagine if you could colorize specific parts of person’s body, such as cancerous tumor. A surgeon could see more accurately where the tumor is and would be able to more completely extract it. The picture below shows a tumor that is “lit up” in a green fluorescent color. In addition, the fluorescent color “shines” through tissue which permits the tumor to be seen even when it is slightly covered up.
This technology works well for metastatic lymph nodes in a breast cancer scenario as it permits a surgeon to readily tell which lymph nodes have cancer and which do not. This technology also works for identifying nerves, which if damaged during surgery can cause paralysis and pain. The notion of nerve-sparing surgery may have just been redefined.
I like to read about these kinds of technological advances because they ultimately result in inadvertent injury from surgeries and can be a significant part of enhancing a patient’s post-surgery quality of life. And if I am undergoing cancer or nerve-sensitive surgery, I want the surgeons to have all the tools they need to see what to cut and what to leave alone.
