Created an implantable sensor for monitoring tumor

A microchip monitors the oxygen level, which indicates the status of the tumor.
The traditional measure of cancer treatment - surgery. However, not all tumors can be removed the operation. If the tumors are located in close proximity to the brain or liver, there is risk of damaging surrounding tissue and nerve cells. And in the case of slow-growing tumors (eg, prostate cancer), which appear mainly in older people, there is a serious threat to life.

The development of inoperable tumors need to continuously monitor, in time to meet them. Now used for this computer, or magnetic resonance imaging, and other similar technologies.

Group of German scientists from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), led by Professor Bernhard Wolf offers a watch from inside, not outside. Experts have designed a sensor and put it together with the supporting electronics, a radio transmitter and batteries in a sheath of biocompatible plastic. The resulting device is a length of about 2 cm are implanted into the body near the tumor and measures the concentration of dissolved oxygen in its tissues.

The main difficulty was to create a device that can perform its work completely independently and for a long time. It was important that he could act in the presence of protein and cellular "garbage" and not perceived by the body as a foreign object, said one of the participants in the project, Sven Becker.

Developers have successfully coped with its task: it confirmed the laboratory

experiments. Now comes the search for suitable patients for clinical trials. In the future, engineers intend to add other sensors that record temperature and acidity of cancer cells, as well as a mechanism for the introduction of low-dose chemotherapy as needed.

On this project, which is called IntelliTuM (Intelligent Implant for Tumor Monitoring), the German authorities have allocated € 500 thousand