3 new ways technology is helping to advance medicine

Imaging Cameras improving cancer surgery Every year, 14 million people are diagnosed with cancer; of those, around eight million will die. Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide; across the globe, doctors and scientists are fighting to reduce the number of cancer deaths by detecting cancer early and promoting new ways of battling it. In the past, imaging technologies such as radiography, magnetic resonance imaging, and computed tomography have proved vital in the fight against cancer, helping doctors to diagnose the disease quickly to increase the chance of recovery. Now, near-infrared fluorescence (NRF) has emerged as a new, powerful imaging tool in the battle against cancer. NRF imaging is used during surgery to enable surgeons to distinguish between healthy tissue and cancerous tissue easily. Surgery is a highly effective method of treating cancer patients, but its success rate depends largely on how much of the cancer is removed; if cancer cells remain in the body after surgery, the surgery’s success rate is greatly diminished. Advocates of NRF hope the technique will give surgeons greater visibility of cancer margins and increase their ability to remove cancerous tissue precisely. Companies such as andor.com are researching how we can implement…

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