Microdevices Implanted into Tumors Offer New Way to Treat Brain Cancer

The shape and size of a grain of rice, the new device can conduct dozens of experiments at once to study the effects of new treatments on some of the hardest-to-treat brain cancers.

Researchers, Pier Paolo Peruzzi and Oliver Jonas from Brigham and Women’s Hospital have designed a device that can help test treatments in patients with gliomas, a type of tumor that originates in the brain or spinal cord.

The device, which is designed to be used during standard of care surgery, provides unprecedented insight into the effects of drugs on glioma tumors and caused no adverse effects on patients in a phase 1 clinical trial. Results from the pilot clinical trial for the device are published in Science Translational Medicine.

Source: EurekAlert!