Horizon: Defeating Cancer

Having seen that it dealt with cancer, my interest was caught and I watched this programme avidly from beginning to end. It showed three brand new and state of the art treatments for different types and stages of cancer, as well as explaining what cancer is, how the treatments are made, and of course what the draw backs of the treatment are. Not all cancer is treatable, but it was amazing to see three more huge steps in the right direction.

One piece was a robotic machine for delivering radiation precisely to the place of the cancer, massively reducing damage to the surrounding tissue. Hundreds of tiny rays were targeted at the tumour, which meant that in order to keep the total radiation level to the tumour the same, the radiation level of each ray could be much smaller. This meant that when it passed through tissue, very little damage occured. Another fantastic aspect of the machine was that it was able to adjust the direction of the ray according to the breathing and movement of the patient, helped by a light sensor. This was particularly good because despite the intricate planning for each move of the robot, the physicists and doctors were unable to plan ahead how the patient's movement on the table would affect the position of the tumour within his body.

Another piece of technology was a machine for robotic surgery. The most fascinating part of this for me was that it enables the surgeon to perform an operation from anywhere in the world! Each tiny movement from his hands is translated into a movement by one of three tools, removing any trace of shaking or tremoring and vastly improving the precision of each cut, of each stitch. A camera, moved by his feet, enabled the surgeon to see what he was doing through an eyepiece, thus enabling him to be working ten feet away from the patient.

The third treatment was a tablet for skin cancer. It was created by looking at the gene patterns in normal, healthy people and those with melanoma skin cancer. They were then able to form a 3D image of the chemical that tells the cell to divide and create a chemical that fitted the gap. This prevented the chemical from working properly and therefore reduced the rate of division of the cells that formed the tumour.

Although all the treatments were incredibly expensive, I believe that it was money well spent, as despite the fact that they are unlikely to be 100% successful, they are huge advances in technology and allow so much hope for the future. This is a very exciting time in the world of medicine!