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The chemical causes a tumor pink tumors under UV light
One trial suggests that chemicals that cause a pink glow of brain tumors could help surgeons remove cancer safely.
Scientists gave people with suspected glioma a drink containing 5-ALA, a substance known to accumulate in rapidly growing cancer cells.
The pink glow of chemical causes has been found in people with the most aggressive cancers.
The researchers hope that surgeons will be able to more easily distinguish cancer cells from healthy brain tissue.
The treatment of glioma, the most common form of brain cancer, and the one that killed former hard-working minister Lady Tessa Jowell, is usually surgery to remove as much cancer as possible and prognosis for patients is often poor.
In this new trial, 99 patients with suspected high-grade glioma (fast-growing) received a drink containing 5-ALA prior to surgery.
Research has previously shown that 5-ALA is found in rapidly growing cancer cells because they do not have the enzyme needed to break down the chemical.
Surgeons used microscopes to help them search for fluorescent tissue while removing brain tumors from patients.
During surgery, surgeons reported fluorescence in 85 patients.
Of these, 81 were confirmed by pathologists as having high-grade disease, one with low-grade disease and three that could not be assessed.
Of the 14 patients in whom the surgeons saw no fluorescence, seven tumors were found to be low-grade gliomas while the other seven could not be evaluated.
The author of the study, Dr. Kathreena Kurian, an associate professor of brain tumor research at Bristol University, said: "It is urgent to have something while the patient is at the table, while that the neurosurgeon operates, which will guide them in the search for the worst pieces.
"The beauty of 5-ALA is that they can see where the high grade gliomas are while they are in activity."
Lady Tessa Jowell passed away in May of this year
The researchers warned that the study involved patients who were already suspected of a high-grade tumor, and that a larger study in which more patients had low-grade disease would provide more information. Information on the use of this technique.
Other types of markers may have to be tested to detect low-grade glioma cells, they say.
Next steps could include testing 5-ALA in children with brain tumors or helping surgeons distinguish tumor tissue from scar tissue in adult patients, whose brain cancers have recurred after treatment.
Dr. Paul Brennan of Cancer Research UK said, "Real-time detection of the most aggressive tumor cells could help physicians find the right balance between removing as much of the tumor as possible while preserving the surrounding healthy tissues.
"The fluorescent marker can also ease the burden of follow-up treatment because cancer cells left behind after surgery require additional radiation or chemotherapy."
The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence approved the use of 5-ALA in patients with brain tumors before the operation earlier this year.
The research is presented at the 2018 Cancer Conference organized by the NCRI in Glasgow from November 4th to 6th.
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