Philips aims to reduce cancer treatment side effects with drug-loaded microbubbles

It may not be quite as attention-grabbing as lasers or nano explosives, but Philips Research seems to think that it's so-called microbubbles could have a big impact on cancer treatment nonetheless, and they're apparently already showing some promise. According to the company, the red-blood-cell-sized bubbles would be used to carry drugs through the patients bloodstream and tracked using ultrasound imaging. Then, once they've reached their target, a focused ultrasound pulse would rupture the bubbles and release their drug payload. That, Philips says, would not only increase the effectiveness of the drugs, but reduce the side effects normally associated with them and, ultimately, lead to a quicker recovery. From the looks of it, however, things are still at the pre-clinical stage, and there's no indication of any future plans just yet.

[Karf @ Oct 6th 2008 5:31PM]

I thought it was a thong. Foolish me.

[Stereotype @ Oct 6th 2008 5:51PM]

Sicko

[Josh @ Oct 6th 2008 6:29PM]

I have to say i thought the same thing.

But a cure for cancer with no magnets involved is not a cure for cancer.

"Magnets. Always with the magnets.."

[John H. @ Oct 6th 2008 5:35PM]

mmmmm, all of a sudden i crave a donut

[rock99rock @ Oct 6th 2008 5:36PM]

I dont feel so comfortable thinking of a traffic jam in my bloodstream.

[Ryan Trevisol @ Oct 7th 2008 7:08AM]

nor am I comfortable with thousands of tiny air embolisms in my blood.

[404 @ Oct 6th 2008 5:39PM]

For anyone looking for more info or for the info without the extra gunk in that video, here's a press release from Philips:

http://www.research.philips.com/newscenter/backgrounders/080930-microbubbles.html

Definitely sounds interesting, but you've gotta wonder: if the ultrasound is powerful enough to rupture the micro bubbles, what's the chance of it rupturing something else inside your body...?

[mike @ Oct 6th 2008 5:47PM]

it doesn't rupture the bubbles as much as causes it to resonate at a specific frequency. the ultrasound wouldn't effect other parts of the body and it doesn't go very deep anyways. don't know why this is taking so long as i've been reading about it for the past 5 years...

[404 @ Oct 6th 2008 5:55PM]

Yeah, but have they checked whether or not it causes other cells or structures to resonate as well? Obviously this will get picked up on if (when?) it makes it to clinical trials but for all they know at the moment it could be ripping apart other cells or structures that happen to share the same resonance frequency.

I think the Philips site said the ultrasound gets about 10cm into your body: that's deep enough to reach your vital organs. It *should* be fine, but that said it wouldn't be the first thing to hit the pre-clinicals and fall flat on its face.

Here's hoping it doesn't.

[kjb434 @ Oct 6th 2008 6:07PM]

The damage it may cause can't be worse the Chemotherapy. The reality is that most cancer patients die from the treatments and not the cancer. Yes, the cancer would eventually kill you, but not as fast as the treatment could.

If you are a lucky enough that you can stand the treatments, then you become a success.

[dajimmers @ Oct 6th 2008 7:50PM]

Well they already do something similar for kidney stones (lithotripsy) and I bet the frequencies they use to vibrate stones are more likely to cause unwanted local vibration of tissue than the ones they'll use for these bubbles (which they can manufacture to sizes to specifically avoid those similar to human stuffs). Plus they'll be able to test on animals first, which have similar enough microstructures to allow a comparison.

They can also (somewhat) control how deep the ultrasound goes. And when it's your "vital organs" that have the cancer, you'll be happy this can reach them without requiring the surgeon's knife.

[Mike10010100 @ Oct 6th 2008 5:41PM]

Yay science! Saving the world, one problem at a time!

[Liam @ Oct 7th 2008 9:37AM]

It works, bitches.

[whatishalo? @ Oct 6th 2008 5:48PM]

yeah, but "freakin' microbubbles" just doesn't sound as evil....

[Liam @ Oct 6th 2008 5:55PM]

I'm guessing this is to do with more targeted chemo treatment? Awesome, that could make a very big difference.

[GreezyG @ Oct 6th 2008 5:55PM]

I want some alcohol-loaded microbubbles :D

[Stiv @ Oct 7th 2008 8:03AM]

No, man. That kills the fun.

[sonicwind @ Oct 6th 2008 5:56PM]

Can I have some that give me super healing powers?

[StalematE @ Oct 6th 2008 6:00PM]

they better be absolutely sure that works... oops! we missed... we just shocked your liver with a whole bunch of fail...

[Cybergypsy @ Oct 6th 2008 6:14PM]

I wish someone would find a cure, soon!

[ata @ Oct 6th 2008 6:15PM]

Those look like drug-loaded mini Limewire icons to me.

[michaelportent @ Oct 6th 2008 6:17PM]

So instead of marginally annoying side effects for a few hours, you'll get hit by a ton of bricks and feel like you want to die for five quick minutes. Awesome! Way to go, technology. =P

[ronald.raygun @ Oct 6th 2008 10:47PM]

you dont know anything about chemotherapy do you? you're pushing chemicals that destroy a lot of things throughout your body within all of your blood system. also chemotherapy doesn't start its effect immediately it takes time, its called NADIRs.

[Liam @ Oct 7th 2008 9:40AM]

It's not a few hours, it's weeks or possibly months. With this technique, higher doses could be used in more targeted areas without killing the patient. Chemo is essentially poision, that's why this is a big thing; you want it to affect, as much as possible, only the cancer cells. At the moment, doing that is basically impossible.

[TC @ Oct 6th 2008 6:23PM]

Before all the 'but does it blend' etc. nonsense gets spouted on these boards I would like to say well done and good luck to Philips Research, despite putting me off pistachio ice cream for the near future.

[Dahk @ Oct 6th 2008 6:29PM]

I'm not sure if my fetch is breaking (I've kinda turned off my fetching... cuz I'm not on a data plan), but the mail app keeps screwing up and telling me i've got my username and password wrong. Power cycle on/off seems to work fine in resolving the issue though.

It seems that the phone doesn't actually "save" the password. And when you get out of the settings menu, it just goes back to "Required", when instead, it should have the dots.

Frustrating =/.

[Dahk @ Oct 6th 2008 6:30PM]

Whoa, totally wrong article. My bad.

[whatishalo? @ Oct 6th 2008 7:08PM]

Awesome and applicable to this post.

Now back to the topic at hand. Those MSI Winds at BestBuy are really tiny... :)

[andy.minor @ Oct 6th 2008 6:43PM]

I thought bubbles in the blood were something not to be desired for?

[dajimmers @ Oct 6th 2008 7:53PM]

Well they probably won't recommend deep-sea diving while undergoing this therapy.

[Pwnge @ Oct 6th 2008 7:26PM]

That's it -- I'm changing my motto:
People can be idiots, but very often they are geniuses.

[Cal @ Oct 6th 2008 7:27PM]

wow that's actually a great idea

[kaimonkey @ Oct 6th 2008 9:14PM]

drugs huh ? :)
what kind of drugs are we talking bout ??

[Hellaphunt @ Oct 7th 2008 11:57AM]

Where's that malinformed gentelman that said Philips was only worth the light bulbs they make?

[Dr. Nick @ Oct 7th 2008 4:48PM]

What happens to all the bubbles in the areas of the body that they're not targeting? I assume the dosage of meds required is the same, as they don't have control over where the medication actually goes- they're just rupturing bubbles when they end up in the area where the cancer is- but what about the rest of the bubbles? Or ar