Prof. Jürgen Mlynek (left), President of the Helmholtz Association, and Prof. Andreas Schlüter (2nd from left), Secretary General of the Stifterverband Association for the Promotion of Science and Humanities in Germany, congratulate the awardees Prof. Vasilis Ntziachristos (2nd from right), Helmholtz Zentrum München, and Prof. Gooitzen Michell van Dam (right), University Medical Center Groningen. Photo: Helmholtz/Fesseler

More information:

www.helmholtz.de/esp2011-nature

Up-to-date podcast on the topic: www.helmholtz.de/podcast

Up-to-date film on the topic: www.helmholtz.de/esp2011-youtube

Detecting Cancer Cells During Surgery

In the event of cancer surgery, the surgeons have to remove the cancer tissue as completely as possible without cutting away too much of the healthy tissue. This is a difficult task, for which they could only rely on their own eyes so far. Now researchers from the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the University Medical Center Groningen have developed an innovative imaging procedure by which even the tiniest amounts of cancer tissue can be detected during surgery.

For this interdisciplinary achievement they now have received the Science Prize of the Stifterverband - Erwin Schrödinger Prize 2011 during the Helmholtz Association's annual conference. The scientists share the prize money of 50,000 Euro. "The system we developed uses fluorescent substances which link themselves to certain molecules that are characteristic for various kinds of cancer", explains Prof. Dr Vasilis Ntziachristos from the Institute of Biological and Medical Imaging at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, who has developed the procedure together with Prof. Dr Gooitzen Michell van Dam from the University Medical Center Groningen. Seven years ago, the researchers began to develop the technique and to test it, first in the animal model. In doing so, the greatest challenge was to find fluorescent substances that agree well with the organism and reliably indicate cancer cells.

With his team, Ntziachristos developed a fluorescence camera to film the fluorescent cancer tissue. During surgery, the camera's image is transmitted to a monitor. Each glowing spot on the tissue indicates remaining cancer cells. Compared with the human eye, this technique allows for a considerably higher resolution. "Especially on the tissue surface, we can identify at least several tens or hundreds of cancer cells, that is, very small amounts", says Ntziachristos. Two years ago, the scientists were able to apply the new procedure for the first time: Their first patient suffered from ovarian cancer, a cancer type with a particularly high rate of spreading. As early as in the next few years, the procedure could become a fixture in operating theatres and support surgeons in almost completely removing the cancer.

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