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In addition, nanoparticles are used in theranostics — an approach in medicine that combines therapy and diagnosis. The main direction, which involved theranostics, Oncology. Suppose a cancer is hard to detect. In this case, nanoparticles will help us. When nanoparticles are injected into the body, the substandard formation accumulates them. To detect it, scientists make nanoparticles capable of contrast-distinguishable imaging tools, including MRI, CT, ultrasound, as well as optical cameras. In the latter case, the registration is as follows: when the tumor has accumulated the right amount of such particles, they are irradiated with light, which the nanoparticles re-emit with a change in color, and they can be registered using, for example, a camera. This method is called fluorescent imaging, and it allows you to detect cancer, as well as detect and remove the remaining malignant tissue after surgery.
But there are more standard methods, such as radioactive imaging. Radioactive tracers are injected into the body — special nanomaterials that are used to monitor a chemical reaction or biological process. Thanks to imaging systems, it is possible to detect a tumor. Magnetic iron oxide particles are also used: they accumulate in tumors, and in MRI systems, accumulation sites are visible. So you can detect the tumor and its attendant metastases. These methods are now in active development, and there is reason to believe that they will be used in clinical practice.
Theranostics applies to people, but the nanoparticles involved are smaller than the standard drugs. One example of theranostics, if you do not bind to nanoparticles, the visualization during surgery to remove gliomas — brain cancer. The glioma is formed in such a way that the node is visible, but the thread — like metastases that penetrate the brain tissue are not. These metastases must be removed: if this is not done, the tumor can develop again. To understand where the metastases and the tumor itself are located, fluorescent markers are injected into the cancer tissues.
One of these fluorescent markers is the drug alasens, which is used for the treatment and diagnosis of cancer. It accumulates in tumor cells and causes them to produce porphyrin-a pigment that is distributed in large quantities in the wild. Porphyrin is valuable because if you Shine a green light on it, it will glow red, which indicates the potential of the pigment in medicine. Doctors simply put a filter that blocks the green light, and the filter that highlights the red. Thus, during the operation, the surgeon does not look at the tumor, but at the monitor, on which the malignant formation is highlighted in red.
In NMITS neurosurgery named after academician N. N. Burdenko standard operations are performed using alasens. Alasens — preparation allowing the photodynamic therapy. If you Shine a strong light on it, it will be toxic to the tumor. This operation is possible, but surgeons prefer to operate. This is an example of how a diagnostic drug helps in human surgery.
Theranostic actively developed, but unfortunately, today, nanotechnology has not found wide application in Oncology. Scientists prefer chemotherapy in an established form, rather than using nanoparticles. One of the reasons is the long and expensive testing of nanopreparations and approval of Supervisory medical departments, which is quite reasonable: first of all, you can not harm the patient. In addition, nanomedicine drugs are high-tech, and therefore expensive. So theranostic with the use of nanoparticles mostly used in animal studies, but these types of imaging systems are extremely useful: the doctor injected the drug and see where it accumulated. It is so easy to detect cancers and operate on a person at the right time.
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