Tumor paint: How one physician is changing cancer treatment

Jim Olson, MD, PhD, attending physician at Seattle Children's Hospital and member of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, has developed a tool to improve surgeons' sight of tumors inside the body. He's calls it "tumor paint," according to Seattle CBS-affiliate KIRO-TV.

Tumor paint is a compound that, once injected into the body, illuminates cancerous tumor cells vivid green, enabling surgical precision and facilitating the preservation of healthy tissue. It is the product of more than a decade of research at Fred Hutch.

According to KIRO-TV, Dr. Olson has seen four recent cases in which surgeons thought they'd removed a patient's brain tumor, only to discover later that much of the tumor remained intact. He described surgery as still being in the "stone age" and expressed hope that tumor paint can help change the game.

"Surgeons, particularly brain tumor surgeons, and many others spend a huge amount of time trying to figure out exactly where the cancer begins and where it ends," Dr. Olson told KIRO-TV.

Dr. Olson's method is currently being tested in children and adults with varying forms of cancer. If approved by the FDA, oncologists will have a new asset in tackling a cancer diagnosis.

The next stage of Dr. Olson's tumor paint research is to a find a way to bypass healthy tissues and deliver toxins, like chemotherapy, directly to the cancerous tumors.

"I'm looking forward to the day when you can look at a kid and say, 'The good news is, it's only cancer. You didn't break your leg.' I would love to be at that point. It's a lofty goal. I'm not afraid of that goal, and I'm happy to be part of that," Dr. Olson told KIRO-TV.

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