Injecting Liquid Metal Into Blood Vessels Could Help Kill Tumors 111
KentuckyFC (1144503) writes One of the most interesting emerging treatments for certain types of cancer aims to starve the tumor to death. The strategy involves destroying or blocking the blood vessels that supply a tumor with oxygen and nutrients. Without its lifeblood, the unwanted growth shrivels up and dies. This can be done by physically blocking the vessels with blood clots, gels, balloons, glue, nanoparticles and so on. However, these techniques have never been entirely successful because the blockages can be washed away by the blood flow and the materials do not always fill blood vessels entirely, allowing blood to flow round them. Now Chinese researchers say they've solved the problem by filling blood vessels with an indium-gallium alloy that is liquid at body temperature. They've tested the idea in the lab on mice and rabbits. Their experiments show that the alloy is relatively benign but really does fill the vessels, blocks the blood flow entirely and starves the surrounding tissue of oxygen and nutrients. The team has also identified some problems such as the possibility of blobs of metal being washed into the heart and lungs. Nevertheless, they say their approach is a promising injectable tumor treatment.
Why do I have the feeling... (Score:2, Insightful)
this won't do well in primate/human safety trials.
some "problems" (Score:4, Insightful)
Having blobs of liquid metal flowing to the heart seems like a show stopper to me. I'm intrigued by the old-school-mad-scientist aspect of this idea, but the potential risks seem a bit serious.
"Relatively Benign" (Score:3, Insightful)
Lots of things are relatively benign compared to cancer -- but I'm not sure this is one of them.
Re:We already have something functionally similar (Score:4, Insightful)
The researchers further posit that since the injected substance is metal, it is an ideal conductor for use as a method of delivery for electrical current to heat up and destroy the unwanted tissue.
Are these plausibly benefits not afforded by existing techniques? I know we get a cancer cure story every fortnight or so, but I, for one, welcome the continued research even if it rarely pans out.