Green Dye May Hold The Key To Identifying Hard-To-Find Cancers
(CBS) -- Invisible cancer can be a killer, but now a new test may be able to make the invisible visible.
Cancers that had been undetectable can now be seen, thanks to a green glow.
"I feel like I'm a miracle woman, and I'm lucky," patient Francie Howat says.
Howat was diagnosed with lung cancer earlier this year. The 65-year-old -- a lifelong smoker -- was scared and worried she wouldn't be around to watch her grandchildren grow up. So, she decided to be part of a research trial.
Surgeon Sunil Singhal says that up to 50 percent of the time when lung cancer is surgically removed, invisible cancer cells are missed and the disease can recur.
But now it's been found that a dye, called ICG, can make the invisible –visible. It can accumulate in lung cancer cells and then light up green under infrared light.
"For the first time we actually have the ability to make tumors glow," Singhal says.
Before the operation, patients are injected with the dye. Then, during the surgery the light is turned on.
If the testing in lung cancer pans out researchers are hoping the procedure can be adapted to find other cancers.
Howat was able to avoid chemo and radiation. And now she's dancing with her grandchildren to celebrate and recovering from a remarkably short stint with lung cancer.
"I think it's a miracle," she says.
So far, the green dye has only been tested on five lung cancer patients. Results are promising. Doctors at the University of Pennsylvania are still tweaking the process and hope to expand the research soon.