• Question: Have you ever thought of measuring the amount of electricity or another force you could measure and see at exactly what amount will cancer die? Maybe the white and red blood cells will not die but cancer because of its diferent characteristics will? It might work?

    Asked by AlezProza to Ben, Lizzie, Francis, Max, Sian on 6 Mar 2018.
    • Photo: Ben Mulhearn

      Ben Mulhearn answered on 6 Mar 2018:

      That’s a really good point. Although I’m not sure about electricity to kill cancer cells, certain people has measured how much radiation cancer cells need to die. Because they are highly active, cancer cells need less radiation to die than non-cancer cells, so that’s why some cancers are treated with radiation. Some other cells are also very active (such as white blood cells, hair etc) and that’s why the immune system can be affected if radiation is used as a treatment. Other people have calculated how much of a chemotherapy (chemical therapy) is needed to kill cancer cells but not healthy human cells.

    • Photo: Francis Man

      Francis Man answered on 6 Mar 2018:

      Well it’s actually something that is used to cure cancer. You can use external beam therapy, with a machine that creates a beam of very high energy particles. It will destroy most cells but you can direct it to the cancer so that you don’t destroy too much healthy tissue. It works if you have a tumor that is rather compact but not so well if it has spread widely. Ultrasounds are also used in a similar way.

Comments