More than half of patients diagnosed with cancer undergo chemotherapy, but these drugs can have painful side effects. Now scientists are taking a much smaller, but more powerful approach.
Valerie Buchanan never thought she'd be one of the 200,000 women a year who get breast cancer.
"I think that we're all aware that it could happen to us, but the reality when it does is a different story," said Buchanan.
She had a double mastectomy and chemotherapy. The grueling battle included side effects like nausea, weight gain and exhaustion.
"I guess the scariest part is that what the chemo could do to you," said Buchanan.
Chemotherapy drugs not only kill cancerous cells, but healthy ones too. Researchers are now developing smarter drugs.
"Nanotechnology is a way to provide what we call targeted delivery of those drugs," said Dr. S. Mauri Ferrari, Director for the Center for Nanomedicine at the University of Texas.
Ferrari is testing a new drug delivery system using nanocarriers, which are 100 times smaller than a strand of hair. They're injected into the blood stream, where they seek out and destroy harmful cells.
"What we are trying to do is making sure that every drop of molecule of drug injected into patients makes it to the cancer and none of it gets spilled and does damage in places that it is not supposed to touch," said Ferrari.
Doctors in Germany use nanotechnology to treat brain tumors and prostate cancer. They inject tiny particles into a tumor. A magnetic field then heats and destroys the cancer.
Buchanan is eager for the day when fighting cancer means fewer side effects.
"To have the chemotherapy go directly to that location or that surrounding area and not to have to go through your entire body would be wonderful," said Buchanan.
It's a small wonder that could make a huge difference in the more than 10 million Americans.
This nanotechnology might also be used one day to treat heart disease, hemorrhaging and other conditions that affect blood vessels
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