Dye clings to cancer cells and gives doctors 'second pair of eyes'

Exciting new hope for patients

- Jane Kirby

A GLOWING dye that clings to cancer cells gives surgeons a "second pair of eyes" in operations to eradicate the disease, experts have found.

The technique, developed for prostate cancer but one that could be adapted to other forms of the disease, highlights areas of infected tissue not picked up by the naked eye.

This allows surgeons to remove far more of the cancer and slashes the chance of the disease coming back.

Cancer Research UK, which funded an Oxford University study, revealed clinical trials were under way to confirm that surgery with the dye removed more prostate cancer and preserved more healthy tissue than with existing techniques.

An initial study saw 23 men with prostate cancer injected with the dye before surgery to remove their prostates.