Accurately and non-invasively target the deepest tumor tissues through high-intensity light beams. This is the perspective that opens up a study conducted by a group of researchers from the Sapienza University of Rome, the Institute of Complex Systems of the National Research Council, the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and the Agostino Gemelli Irccs University Hospital Foundation, whose results were published in the scientific journal Nature Communications.
The use of laser beams capable of penetrating deeply into the tumor could represent an important innovation in the fight against cancer. However, the research team explains in a statement, most biological tissue is optically opaque and absorbs incident radiation. This does not allow you to reach deep tissue in a targeted manner. In the new study, the researchers found that eyeballs can form within the tumor “optical tsunami”, light waves of extreme intensity which can be exploited to transmit laser light into the tumor. The researchers confirmed this possibility on three-dimensional pancreatic tumor samples.
“Our study shows how extreme waves, which until now had remained undetected in biological structures, are able to spontaneously transport energy through tissues and can be exploited for new biomedical applications”, he explains Claudio Conti of Sapienza University of Roma.
“We have shown how such light can cause targeted temperature increases that induce cancer cell death, and this has important implications for photothermal therapies,” he adds. Massimiliano Papi of the Catholic University. “With this extreme laser beam we could non-invasively probe and treat a specific region of an organ.”
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