On the Horizon: The Ability to Detect Even a Single Cancer Cell During Surgery on dogs
When removing a malignant tumor, a surgeon can’t see a single cancer cell left behind with the naked eye — or even 10,000 cancer cells. That’s a microscopic amount, which is why excised tumors currently get sent to pathologists. They can look at a few small sections of an excised tumor under the microscope and get an idea of whether the cancer was removed in its entirety. But what if a way were developed that allowed cancer surgeons to see right in the operating room, before the patient was closed back up, whether any cancer cells remained?
Your Dog editor-in-chief John Berg, DVM, is involved in cutting-edge research that will allow surgeons to do just that. In an investigation he conducted with fellow scientists atů