UK team finds that MRI scans can deliver Cancer therapy

The UK team at Sheffield University deployed the magnetic power of MRI scans to control the movement of a specially designed injectable cancer therapy. Early trials in mice suggest the novel delivery method works. But years more of studies are needed before it could be used in patients.
The hope is it will revolutionize the way doctors treat cancers that are tricky or impossible to remove surgically, tumors in the brain and spine and cancers that have spread around the body, for example.
"An advantage of using MRI is that you can also track where the treatment is going. It could be really useful," she said.
Dr Nick Peel, senior science information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: "Using viruses to kill tumor cells is one of many ways researchers are using the immune system to attack cancer. But getting the virus precisely on target is a real challenge.
"This early research in mice suggests that using a magnetic field from the MRI scanner could help propel the virus towards cancer tumors using metal nano-particles.