Israeli Company Claims It Has Created New Technology That Can Destroy Cancerous Tumors

By The Blaze. An Israeli company says it has developed a targeted radiation treatment that it claims can cure cancerous tumors.

“This is the first time in the world that you can treat solid tumors with alpha radiation,” Alpha Tau Medical’s CEO Uzi Sofer told the Times of Israel.

The technology called Diffusing Alpha-emitters Radiation Therapy, or DaRT, uses a needle to inject tumors with a radioactive seed that releases a high-energy dose of alpha radiation that destroys the tumor. The healthy tissue surrounding the tumors is left unharmed.

The procedure is minimally invasive and can be performed using local anesthesia in two hours or less, the company said. Sofer told the Times that for superficial tumors it’s much “like going to a dentist.” (Read more from “Israeli Company Claims It Has Created New Technology That Can Destroy Cancerous Tumors” HERE)

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Anti-Tumor DaRT Could Point the Way to New Arsenal in Battle Against Cancer

By The Times of Israel. Tel Aviv-based startup Alpha Tau Medical claims it has developed a technology that can cure tumors by injecting them with radioactive material that attacks and destroys the cancer cells. The procedure takes two hours or less and can be performed anywhere, the company says.

In the treatment, called Diffusing Alpha-emitters Radiation Therapy (DaRT), a needle containing radium-224, a radioactive isotope, is inserted into the location of the tumor. Once positioned, it emits alpha particles that have the capacity to exterminate the cancer cells. These particles are known to have the ability to cause irreparable breaks in the DNA of these cells.

The problem with using alpha cells in cancer treatment is that they decay and lose effectiveness very quickly. So the Israeli firm came up with a system that uses a needle armed with radium-224. This needle is injected into the tumor, where it releases the radium. As the radium decays, after about four days, it releases “daughter atoms” that spread within the tumor and emit high-energy alpha particles, which target the cancer cells.

(Read more from “Anti-Tumor DaRT Could Point the Way to New Arsenal in Battle Against Cancer” HERE)

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