Using image-guided nuclear intervention to cut cancer cells off at the pass

The rapidly developing field of nuclear medicine tracers — or probes — to noninvasively study cancer cells in real time during treatment got an “exciting” boost this week. A research team from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and Memorial Sloan Kettering in New York City published findings in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine that may help doctors respond more accurately with supplemental cancer treatments.

“Oftentimes, targeted cancer therapies are combined to kill tumors. One of the ways tumors sometimes avoid being killed is by responding to a therapy to overcome its effects,” Umar Mahmood, MD, PhD, a member of the research team, a professor of radiology and director of the Division of Precision Medicine at Harvard Medical School, told HCB News. 

According to Mahmood, the nuclear medicine probes they have developed in combination with PET imaging can help determine the best way to overcome a specific tumor’s effort to resist treatment. Read more.