John Kang WebMD contributor and general surgeon is one of the smartest doctors that I know, an ethical doctor with excellent values, a hardworking doctor who is constantly doing his utmost to help his patients and, most importantly, a man who is constantly seeking new ways of fighting diseases. For John Kang Liquidmetal is the future for cancer treatment and it is something which he has been waxing lyrical about with his oncology team and other colleagues. I first spoke to John Kang MC last year about the work that was being done on Liquidmetal procedures in treating cancer, and here is where we are at now with this ground-breaking work.
Success
John Kang MC was most delighted to tell me that we have seen some of the largest breakthroughs in recent years, occurring in just the last few months in this field. Liquidmetal has been tried and tested for almost a decade in the medical industry, looking at ways it can be used for a wide number of medical conditions. It was the suspicion of the scientists and medical professionals involved for many years, that this could be a successful procedure to use in cases of chemotherapy, and we are now closer than ever to realizing that fact.
How Liquidmetal Can Aid Cancer Patients?
One of the biggest complaints when it comes to chemotherapy has been the fact that it is after all, a toxic procedure which hits healthy cells as well as cancerous cells. Liquidmetal however, has been shown to completely remove this risk in a very unique way. The reason behind this is that researchers have created metal nano-particles using an alloyed gallium indium, which is a stable liquid at room temperature. Using an ultrasound, this metal is turned into nanoparticles, which then have special molecules named ligands, which are able to stick to the nanoparticle, we then stick doxorubicin – a well known chemotherapy drug – to these ligands. What happens when these are injected into the bloodstream, is that they hit cancerous tumorous, formulate into a metal particle again and then begin to absorb the tumor.
Benefits of Liquidmetal
The benefits which this kind of treatment could offer a cancer patient are immeasurable. Using this treatment doctors can count on their patients receiving a treatment which is non-toxic and potentially highly effective, especially for cancers which are currently considered non-curable. Additionally, doctors can easily track the progress of these nanoparticles because when they become metal once again, they can be easily picked up on scans.
Future
There is still much more testing to be done on this treatment, first with animals and then in human trials, but the future looks very bright. Dr. Kang tells me that the manufacture of these particles can be done very easily and inexpensively, which is another huge benefit of using Liquidmetal in treatments of cancers. Simply put, the future looks very bright indeed.