New Breast Cancer Treatment
By: Import User
Updated: January 7, 2009
A doctor at the University of Arkansas for
Medical Sciences wants to set a new standard for breast cancer
therapy using flecks of gold.
Vladimir Zharov is searching for a safe and efficient way to
target cancerous cells using microscopic particles of gold.
Zharov is a biomedical engineer and the director of laser
research at U-A-M-S. He won a 106-thousand dollar grant from the
U-S Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program for the
research.
His treatment concept is still unproven, but he says preliminary
tests have shown the gold "nanoparticles" could interact with
laser radiation to destroy only the targeted cells without
collateral damage to healthy cells.
Several teams of researchers around the world are looking at
similar concepts. Gerald Diebold, professor of chemistry at Brown
University in Providence, Rhode Island, says chemists and medical
researchers are scrambling to find ways to improve on the current
X-ray and ultrasound technology used to diagnose tumors.
Posted by Mike Hellgren
