A novel Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) oximetry
technique will help clinicians directly measure oxygen and schedule treatments
at times of high oxygen levels in cancer and stroke patients to improve outcomes,
the EPR team at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine has found.
The team, led by
Harold Swartz, MD, PhD, published their groundbreaking progress on the
decades-old conundrum of how to measure oxygenation in deep-sited tissue in a
paper titled, 'Deep-Tissue Oxygen Monitoring in the Brain of Rabbits for Stroke
Research,' published in Stroke.
Carcinoid Tumors
Carcinoid tumors is a benign tumor that results in carcinoid syndrome. Only 8 to 10% of all carcinoid tumors are associated with the carcinoid syndrome.
Advertisement
Nadeem Khan, PhD, first author said, "This is a major step forward. It brings EPR oximetry technique to the forefront of biomedical research for clinical applications."
Oxygen is necessary
to sustain life. A certain level of oxygen in a cell or tissue is necessary to
maintain the generation of energy by cells. Oxygen also plays a key role in the
development and treatment of various diseases.
![Pheochromocytoma]( "Pheochromocytoma")
Pheochromocytoma is a rare tumor of the adrenal glands that secretes the catecholamines, adrenaline and noradrenaline. Symptoms, diagnosis, treatment of adrenal gland tumor are explained in detail.
The effectiveness of several therapies also depends on the oxygen levels in a malignancy. For example, a very low level of oxygen in cancer is known to develop aggressive phenotypes, varies with the growth of tumors, and also compromises the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation. Hence, it is very important to directly measure oxygen levels to understand disease progression, develop strategies to improve oxygen levels, and optimize the efficacy of therapies.
Oxygen measurement in deep-sited tissue has been a challenge for several techniques, which has unfortunately limited the understanding of various pathologies in large animals and humans. To solve the problem, Dartmouth's EPR team developed implantable resonators made of thin nonmagnetic copper wire to facilitate direct and repeated measurement of tissue oxygenation at any depth from the surface. In their most recent experiment, which demonstrated the efficacy of in vivo EPR oximetry, they used a one-time implementation of the oxygen probes in the brain of a rabbit and successfully monitored oxygen levels for several weeks.
"Other than the implantation, which is done under anesthesia, the rest of the procedure for oxygen measurements is entirely non-invasive. We anticipate that a better understanding of oxygen levels in stroke, for instance, will guide the development of strategies to significantly improve oxygen levels in the ischemic regions of the brain and thereby improve outcomes," explained Khan.
The investigators conclude that real-time monitoring of tissue oxygenation using implantable resonators will be a powerful tool in stroke and cancer research.
Source: Medindia
Pheochromocytoma
Pheochromocytoma is a rare tumor of the adrenal glands that secretes the catecholamines, adrenaline and noradrenaline. Symptoms, diagnosis, treatment of adrenal gland tumor are explained in detail.
Advertisement
The effectiveness of several therapies also depends on the oxygen levels in a malignancy. For example, a very low level of oxygen in cancer is known to develop aggressive phenotypes, varies with the growth of tumors, and also compromises the effectiveness of chemotherapy and radiation. Hence, it is very important to directly measure oxygen levels to understand disease progression, develop strategies to improve oxygen levels, and optimize the efficacy of therapies.
Oxygen measurement in deep-sited tissue has been a challenge for several techniques, which has unfortunately limited the understanding of various pathologies in large animals and humans. To solve the problem, Dartmouth's EPR team developed implantable resonators made of thin nonmagnetic copper wire to facilitate direct and repeated measurement of tissue oxygenation at any depth from the surface. In their most recent experiment, which demonstrated the efficacy of in vivo EPR oximetry, they used a one-time implementation of the oxygen probes in the brain of a rabbit and successfully monitored oxygen levels for several weeks.
"Other than the implantation, which is done under anesthesia, the rest of the procedure for oxygen measurements is entirely non-invasive. We anticipate that a better understanding of oxygen levels in stroke, for instance, will guide the development of strategies to significantly improve oxygen levels in the ischemic regions of the brain and thereby improve outcomes," explained Khan.
The investigators conclude that real-time monitoring of tissue oxygenation using implantable resonators will be a powerful tool in stroke and cancer research.
Source: Medindia
Tumor Markers For Cancer Diagnosis and Prognosis
An ideal tumor marker for a cancer should be specific to that cancer and not generate false positive results.
Advertisement
 Brain TumorBrain tumors are the abnormal growth of brain cells that may be benign or metastatic. Brain tumors account for about 2.4% of all the tumor diagnosesandare most challenging due to their critically delicate location. | Advertisement
|
Advertisement
Recommended Reading
Latest Medical Gadgets
Recent progress in the development of wearable devices has presented alternative ways for sleep monitoring at home, which could be useful in sleep apnea detection.
Researchers develop non-invasive brain imaging techniques to help people with disabilities.
Heart rate notifications and the ECG app on Apple Watch give patients and their clinicians' important information about their heart health.
The new machine learning tool prioritizes driver mutations in brain tumor (glioblastoma) and assists in identifying therapeutic targets.
KnitDema, the knitted robotic textile was found to show promising results for hand edema patients.