Implantable biosensor could monitor progress of cancer therapy

To monitor a cancer's response to treatment, doctors currently rely on the results of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and other scanning technologies, plus tissue analysis of biopsies.
But these methods can only offer a snapshot that is already history by the time the results are analyzed. Also, in the case of biopsies, there is a limit to how many times you can invade the body with a risky procedure to take a sample.
Now researchers from MIT's Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research have developed an implantable device that promises to provide readings about the state of a tumor
as it happens. Such a device would give doctors a chance to change therapy dosing, and potentially reduce unnecessary side effects.
One of the developers, Michael Cima, a professor in engineering and senior author of the study, says:
"We wanted to make a device that would give us a chemical signal about what's happening in the tumor. Rather than waiting months to see if the tumor is shrinking, you could get an early read to see if you're moving in the right direction."