Cancer Killing Device Defeats the Circulating Tumors Cells in the Blood
Cancer is a disease which usually detects during the later stage. In recent statistics, 17 million have cancer around the world. And 9.6 million died last year from this disease. Can we do something about this?
Cancer starts from abnormal growth of cells into a mass called a tumor. A diagnostic can show if cancerous or benign disease. If cancerous or malignant, it can spread to other parts of the body. Otherwise, it is benign and cannot spread throughout your body.
So how does cancer start growing into a tumor? There are four main types of cancer, according to how it began. We have carcinomas, sarcomas, leukemia and lymphomas.
In carcinoma, abnormal cell growth can start in the skin or tissue that covers our internal organs and glands. Cancers like prostate, breast, lung and colorectal, are included in carcinoma.
For sarcoma, it begins in tissues that support and connect the body. It can develop through fat, muscles, nerves, tendons, joints, blood vessels, lymph vessels, cartilage or bone.
Then we have leukemia which I suppose everyone is familiar. Leukemia is cancer of the blood, which means cells can change and grow uncontrollably. Patients with leukemia suffer from acute and chronic lymphocytic or myeloid leukemia.
Another type is lymphoma cancer. When the lymphatic system fails to fight the infection because of the problems in vessels and glands, this is the start of lymphoma cancer.
How can it spread?
Once a cancerous tumor grows, it can be scattered by the bloodstream or our lymphatic system. Over time, when our immune system fails to cleanse abnormal cells, it can grow and develop into new tumors. The first place where cancer spread is to the lymph nodes, then it can spread to distant parts of the body like liver, lungs, brain, among others.
How will you detect cancer?
Previous years, early detection of cancer is impossible. When someone has diagnosed with cancer, the findings have usually been in the later stage. Often, it is in the 3rd or 4th stage. And this is very unfair because if we are aware of cancer as early as stage 1, there are millions of ways to cure it.
Chemotherapy and dialysis are some of the cure for cancers. But imagine if you can detect it earlier or before growing into a tumor, then a high chance of saving a life is possible.
Early detection of cancer
The start of the diagnosis of a person starts with unusual symptoms. A medical professional can do some tests like colonoscopy, mammography and other screening tests to find out tumors in certain parts of your body. But if no symptom occurs, the person can be diagnosed with another health issue or condition.
When a tumor found in the body, it is recommended to make a biopsy to have a definite diagnosis if malignant or benign. So, you will need to do a biopsy to know what cure can be done and stop the progression of the tumor if malignant.
As technology evolves, there is no doubt that prevention and cure for cancers and to other deadly disease are improving. The development of an early detection device for cancer or what we call as Cytophone breaks the silence in finding the cure for cancer.
But, if the tumor is already present in the body, the only cure is chemotherapy with a strict diet rich with anti-oxidants. It will improve your immune system.
Cytophone is more than just a detection device. It can also penetrate within the cells and dissolve the circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in our body. The laser from the device gives off dark melanin nanoparticles in the CTCs. Since these particles heat more quickly than surrounding ones, the rapid thermal expansion of nanoparticles generates a unique sound. It is detected with an ultrasound transducer on the skin surface.
CTCs must be eliminated before it scattered damaged cells totally in our body. And to be able to do this, the laser further heats to create nanobubbles, which eventually destroy the tumor cell.
The cytophone is genuinely a wonder invention to hunt and prevent cancer cells from circulating in our body. It also has the potential to act as a dual therapeutic and diagnostic tool.
Who invented Cytophone?
Dr. Vladimir Zharov headed the team from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) to develop a non-invasive tool that can detect CTCs in the bloodstream. And of course, they succeeded using ultrasound and heat that could kill the cancer cells. So, no need for needles and blood samples.
The team targeted the CTCs because they believe that this is the root of metastasis occurs. Metastasis is the secondary malignant growths of tumor in our body. Therefore, the team studies that early detection can respond quickly to prevent the spread of cancer.
Don’t jump to the conclusion that other medical professionals have made this procedure. Yes, indeed, this is not the first time that lasers are used by researchers to detect and stop the spread of cancer.
But, take note of this, cytophone is the first demonstration of a non-invasive method of detecting CTCs which respond directly in the bloodstream of cancer patients. Also, compared to other cancer detection device, cytophone is a thousand percent more sensitive than other methods. Meaning, the detection using this device is the most accurate, especially when it comes to blood of melanoma patients. To be précised, even when a tumor was unable to be detected on the skin, this device was able to detect CTCs that traditional methods might easily miss.
However, Zharov admits that there is still something that needs to improve in the device. It is the capability to detect CTC from the blood drawn from the patient. The blood samples collected from the patients is only a few milliliters, which is not enough to detect any CTCs.
What can we say?
Cancer is one of the leading causes of deaths around the world. Anyone can have it, but everybody can avoid it.
Good thing that a non-invasive device can detect and stop the circulating tumor cells in our body. Since Cytophone comes as laser and ultrasound-based device, it does not use a needle, and no blood will be removed for the process. So, this is a painless procedure, after all.
As the saying goes, prevention is better than cure. Therefore, eating healthy foods, exercise and a good lifestyle can prevent and reduce the risk of cancer.
