Anti cancer drug levels need to be followed

A new scanning method that allows doctors to track and monitor the effects of drugs in the body could lead to more effective cancer treatments.

Scientists at Hammersmith Hospital in London adapted a technique called positron emission tomography (PET) to follow the progress of anti-cancer drugs as they travel through the body.
Professor Pat Price, was the director of the research group that pioneered the technique.
Knowing what areas of the body the drug is reaching and the effect it is having is important in cancer treatment because the drugs are very toxic and produce unwanted side effects on healthy cells.

If the treatment is not reaching the cancerous cells or producing the desired effect, the sooner doctors know about it the better it is for the patient because they can alter the dosage or change the drugs.

The researchers tracked the drugs as they traveled through the body by tagging them with a tiny harmless dose of radiation before they were injected into the patients. The PET scan picks up the radioactive signal. The method is so sensitive it can trace tagged drugs in the bloodstream at 1/1000 of the normal dose.