New glow in the dark technology, Cytalux, helping remove cancer cells

New technology helps fight cancer

FOX 13's Jordan Bowen share the breakthrough technology helping the outcomes of lung cancer by giving doctors a better way to detect cancer cells.

WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. - It's a breakthrough that's helping the outcomes of lung cancer. The "glow in the dark" technology illuminates cancer cells, helping doctors remove lesions the naked eye might miss.

When it comes to treating lung cancer, people often undergo surgery to remove the cancer, which starts with imaging studies.

What they're saying:

"When we do imaging studies, we do find lung nodules on imaging studies, but then at the time of the surgery," AdventHealth Thoracic Surgeon Dr. Hamid Mumtaz said.

Some new glow in the dark technology called Cytalux is helping remove cancer cells.

There's no guarantee surgeons will find all the lung nodules that are cancerous.

"We cannot be certain how many of those nodules are there and whether or not the nodule is more extensive than what we see on the imaging study," Dr. Mumtaz said.

It's partly why 55 percent of lung cancer patients who do undergo curative surgery see a recurrence—often due to undetected cancerous lesions left behind. That's according to the National Institutes of Health, but there is new technology working to bring that number down.

"This technology is a game changer," Dr. Mumtaz said.

Dr. Mumtaz, a board-certified surgeon with AdventHealth, is talking about Cytalux.

Some new glow in the dark technology called Cytalux is helping remove cancer cells.

"It will allow surgeons to confidently treat their patients, confidently resect the nodules with good margins," Dr. Mumtaz said.

The backstory:

Cytalux is the first and only FDA-approved optical imaging agent. It's a dark bluish-green liquid medication that's injected into patients through an IV.

It acts like a highlighter for cancer, illuminating cancer cells that surgeons wouldn't otherwise be able to see with the naked eye.

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"By finding these nodules very accurately, emitting the neon green color under camera, we can accurately localize these cancer nodules, and we are able to resect them with much more confidence," Dr. Mumtaz said.

Dr. Mumtaz is one of the only surgeons in the area using Cytalux to treat lung cancer. So far, he's treated 6 patients.

"The patients, once we explain to them that this is what the technology does. They are grateful. They say, well, I have a surgeon who's using this technology. He will respect my nodule with good confidence and with good margins," Dr. Mumtaz said.

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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Jordan Bowen.

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