KEY POINTS
- A timer invented by experts permits PET scanners to attack cancer cells in their weakest
- The invention may pave the way to less invasive radiation treatment for cancer patients
- Inventors hoped the technology can be made more affordable in a decade
Doctors may soon kill cancer tumors with less invasive side effects of radiation treatment. This is after a team of experts designed a scanner that can time the antimatter particles that are significant in detecting the levels of the oxygen concentration in cancer tissues. For years, medical experts have witnessed how low levels of oxygen prevented the timely killing of rapidly growing cancer cells.
A team of Japanese atomic physicists and nuclear medicine experts designed a timer that can detect the oxygen concentration of tissues growing throughout ta cancer patient’s body. Specifically, the timer permits the positron emission tomography (PET) scanners to know when to attack the