Scientists Just Created Magnetic 'Seeds' To Heat Up and Kill Cancer

A group of researchers at University College London (UCL) have used an MRI scanner to guide a tiny magnetic "seed" through the brain to heat and destroy cancer cells. Interesting Engineering reports: The novel breakthrough cancer therapy, which has been tested on mice, is called "minimally invasive image-guided ablation," or MINIMA, according to the study published in Advanced Science. It consists of ferromagnetic thermoseeds, which are basically 2mm metal spheres, that are guided to a tumor using magnetic propulsion generated by an MRI scanner and then remotely heated to kill nearby cancer cells. If this technique translates to humans, it could help to combat difficult-to-reach brain tumors by establishing "proof-of-concept" for precise treatment of cancers like glioblastoma, the most common form of brain cancer, and prostate, which could benefit from less invasive therapies.

The UCL researchers demonstrated the three major components of MINIMA to a high level of accuracy: precise seed imaging, navigation through brain tissue using a customized MRI system (tracked to within 0.3 mm accuracy), and eradicating the tumor in a mouse model by heating it. The researchers used an MRI machine to direct 2mm diameter metal spheres, which were implanted superficially into the tissue, then navigated to the tumors. Then, they were heated to destroy the cells. "Using an MRI scanner to deliver a therapy in this way allows the therapeutic seed and the tumor to be imaged throughout the procedure, ensuring the treatment is delivered with precision and without having to perform open surgery," explained lead author Rebecca Baker at the UCL Centre for Advanced Biomedical Imaging, in a press release. "This could be beneficial to patients by reducing recovery times and minimizing the chance of side effects."

2mm!?

[gadb2]

"which are basically 2mm metal spheres" - this size is so large it has to be a misprint, surely?

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[ISayWeOnlyToBePolite]

They used several sized ball bearings for the tests https://onlinelibrary.wiley.co... [wiley.com]

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[MDMurphy]

Thanks for that link. I was also thinking about the seed size and details on how they moved it.

I wonder if the spark for this idea came from someone pondering the unwanted movement of magnetic particles during an MRI and considered a way that could be controlled, and useful.

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[Joce640k]

"which are basically 2mm metal spheres" - this size is so large it has to be a misprint, surely?

Like birdshot...

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[sg_oneill]

2mm? Not really. We're not doing nanoscale stuff here. Its going to be a lot cleaner than any scalpel or for that matter radiotherapy type surgical intervention.

Most surgery isn't quite THAT advanced yet.

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[flyingfsck]

What about the tunnel left behind the 2mm sphere while moving it with a big ass magnet?

Re: 2mm!?

[LondoMollari]

If you click through and read the scientific paper the size is 0.3mmâ¦

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[nothinginparticular]

+1 informative

Not size

[dereference]

The article says they "direct 2mm diameter metal spheres" which are "tracked to within 0.3 mm accuracy" as they navigate. The paper abstract confirms "The authors demonstrate precise thermoseed imaging and navigation through brain tissue using an MRI system (0.3 mm)" so that's the MRI resolution not the size of the spheres.

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[gadb2]

"direct 2mm diameter metal spheres" - that sounds like size to me. How can you "direct" a 2mm object through a mouse - or human - brain, without destroying huge amounts of brain in the process?

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[CaptQuark]

Actually, if you read the article is says the thermoseeds are 0.5mm.

Locating the thermoseed. a) Distortion MRI artifact caused by the ferromagnetic properties of the thermoseed. Image of a 0.5 mm diameter chrome steel sphere acquired with a fast spin-echo pulse sequence. b) Simulated map of resonance frequencies surrounding a 0.5 mm diameter thermoseed.

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.co... [wiley.com]

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[Pinky's Brain]

At that point you might as well push it in with a rod.

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[GameboyRMH]

I would assume they're intending to use this size on humans, where it could make sense, and weren't too interested in their mousey test subjects' survival. To scale, that would be something like pushing a golf ball through a human brain.

Great news

[Babel-17]

And hopefully in time to get written into a script for The Blacklist so Agent Park can be saved.

I'll trade you three magnetic seeds for that cow.

[h33t l4x0r]

It's a good deal, Jack..

Why limit it to brain tumors?

[kalieaire]

RFA or Radiofrequency Albation, aka using microwaves to cauterize stuff is an incredibly useful tool in health. There are procedures for the heart where they insert a catheter into your femoral artery all the way up your leg, through your aorta, and into your heart. Then they use the antenna (magnetron) at the tip of that catheter and apply power to it. This heats the tissue immediately in front of the catheter. This could be extra nerve bundles that cause atrial fibrillation, or maybe a congenital heart defect such as Atrial Septal Defect when you're still in the womb. RFA can help in these situations.

Something like these magnetic seeds seem exceptionally useful for Atrial Fibrillation because the Femoral Entry for RFA or any other procedures has a relatively high risk factor for clots. >1 in 20 will develop clotting factors that could result in stroke. This is why anti-coagulant drugs are prescribed for the procedure and maintenance until everything heals up. Obv clotting issues could exist for this as well, but I feel the risk is much less of an issue. If they really want to do it the inelegant way, they could run the seeds to your fingertips into an capillary, make a small incision, and extract them. Or maybe when they heat up, they fuse into that spot.

Also think about hard to reach cancers. Something in your heart, or within a pancreas or something. Something you may not want to completely excise but instead could treat in-situ. This would/could be such a breakthrough.

Magnetic Hyperthermia

[test321]

Killing cancer with magnetically-heated iron particles is called Magnetic Hyperthermia and it is a thing since the 1950s. A cloud of (nano) particles can easily be guided through the blood (with a magnet device), but harder to guide through tissue because the particle cloud makes MRI images difficult. The new part here is there is their larger thermoseed (2 mm) works with MRI so the imaging system can be used to guide the heated particle to inside a tumour, and then the same MRI system is used to generates magnetic pulses that heats the particle (and kills the tumour).

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[RobinH]

But for those of us with some sense of scale, a 2 mm sphere is hardly a particle. I don't understand how you could possibly use MRI to "guide" it through brain tissue without seriously damaging said tissue. Are they only guiding it through tumor tissue? Is the amount of damage being done minor enough that it's acceptable? I think these are reasonable questions many people would have, and they're not even acknowledged.

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[h33t l4x0r]

Listen to yourself, dude. Higher quality humans indeed.

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[DMJC]

My ex-girlfriend's 12 year old sister had Glioblastoma, she was one of the lucky few to survive it. Anything that helps kill that wretched disease is fantastic.

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[Joey Vegetables]

I'm glad she made it.

It truly is a wretched disease, even compared to many other cancers. I've lost multiple people to it. I'll be very grateful if this becomes an effective treatment for GBM, and perhaps other deadly cancers as well.

New tech, old problem

[AndyKron]

This is where the phrase "smoke coming from his ears" takes on new meaning

Now how do I get this out.

[dsmogo]

I guess w/o similar procedure the seed will stay in the tissue. Can it then be activated by unsolicited magnetic field?

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[Applehu Akbar]

I guess w/o similar procedure the seed will stay in the tissue. Can it then be activated by unsolicited magnetic field?

Yes. Do not ever have an MRI after getting this treatment.

Hmm

[Whibla]

Honestly, I'm not quite sure why the beads are even necessary.

Then again, I am somewhat ignorant. Perhaps there is a valid reason why it's not possible to just use multiple 'low' power microwave beams, designed to overlap and constructively interfere at a locus, to directly heat the tumour. Issues with the thickness of the skull perhaps?

Still, it's always good to see (not) cool new stuff making its way though testing.

Re: Hmm

[d4fseeker]

Replace magnet with particle beams and you just described a cyberknife which is being used on human brain cancers for a few years.

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[Myrdos]

There's something along those lines called a gamma knife [mayoclinic.org]:

Gamma Knife radiosurgery uses specialized equipment to focus about 200 tiny beams of radiation on a tumor or other target with submillimeter accuracy. Although each beam has very little effect on the brain tissue it passes through, a strong dose of radiation is delivered to the place where all the beams meet.

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[gweihir]

Honestly, I'm not quite sure why the beads are even necessary.

Much, much better targeting.

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[DamnOregonian]

Microwaves are tricky.
1) Wavelength. 1mm microwaves are 30Ghz. Those are some energetic photons. This leads to 2.
2) Water. Water likes to do inconvenient things when bombarded with 30Ghz photons.

There are better "Radiation intersection knife" technologies than microwaves.

But back to the 2mm ball.
Why the fuck do we want this 2mm ball? To not put too fine a point on it, absorption cross-section.
To put an equivalent amount of energy into the locus of the 2 beams (where absorption is just your fleshy bi

Raquel Welch

[hawk]

either get Raquel Welch into this, or don't bother . . .

oh, nuts. I just dated myself again . . .

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[MarkUltraBlack]

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