Fluorescence-guided surgery with live molecular navigation — a new cutting edge

The efficacy of surgery is dependent on removing the entire tumour and also on not damaging important structures, such as nerves. Strategies, such as fluorescent labelling, are being developed to visually identify tumour cells and crucial structures in order to improve the safe resection of tumours. These methods have the potential to improve the survival of cancer patients, as discussed here. A glowing new era in cancer surgery may be dawning. Using fluorescently labelled markers, surgical molecular navigation means that tumours and nerves can be displayed in real time intra-operatively in contrasting pseudocolours, which allows more complete tumour resection while preserving important structures. These advances can potentially cause a paradigm shift in cancer surgery, improving patient outcome and decreasing overall health-care costs.