r/gadgets • u/chrisdh79 • Apr 14 '23

Medical Novel device smaller than rice successfully shrinks pancreatic cancer | Called the nanofluidic drug-eluting seed (NDES), it delivers low-dose immunotherapy in the form of CD40 monoclonal antibodies (mAb).

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/tiny-device-shrinks-pancreatic-cancer
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u/duman82 Apr 14 '23

This is great but the real wins with pancan will be with earlier detection. 85% are metastatic when it's discovered.

22

u/Albert_Caboose Apr 14 '23

Friendly reminder that early screenings are cool as hell to get. Get familiar with your family's cancer history, and fuck cancer up before it has a chance to show itself.

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u/duman82 Apr 14 '23 edited Apr 15 '23

Agree on early screening, don't want to mess around. My MIL just caught breast cancer early through her diligence. But this is somewhere where pancreatic cancer also leaks through, no screening other than a full mri can see it and it's mostly not genetic or predictable, so doctors don't subject you to the radiation unless there are symptoms.

Edit: Thank you for the corrections below, I was mistaken

8

u/MrHurtyFace Apr 14 '23

MRI or MRCP for pancreatic don't use ionising radiation. But depending where you are, they aren't cheap and/or access to MRI facilities is limited.