Quyen Nguyen: Color-Coded Surgery

By now you are probably well aware I am a big fan of watching videos on TED.com.

Again I would like to share with you another new 'invention' in medicine from this hub of great ideas.

Just a quick note on who Dr. Quyen Nguyen is from her bio on TED.

"Dr. Quyen Nguyen's research (working with Roger Tsien, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry) is focused on the development of fluorescently labeled probes for molecular navigation during surgery. Their first collaborative effort yieled a "smart" probe that makes tumors margins fluoresce, or "glow" and thus easier for surgeons to see and remove accurately during surgery. Their most recent joint effort resulted in another type of probe that can make nerves glow during surgery, thus helping surgeons repair injrued nerves and avoid inadvertent injury."

Now I won't bore you with the details. I highly suggest you watch the video and hear about it from her.

One other comment I would like to add is that I am salivating at the prospect this type of fluorescent marker can be used both successfully in surgeries and also in education. For years, I have been learning from color-coded textbook images and they do not pay proper respect to the complexity of anatomical and histological structures. In one of my first clinical anatomy classes, I was shocked at the lack of fine detail in the vessels, nerves, and other histological structures. Now wouldn't be cool if you could walk into a clinical class, turn off the light and see the body glow?

The advances in science and medicine has come a long way in the past 100 years and as we move further and further forward with technology, there should be a  general excitement about what we can achieve. I just hope I can still be around as long as possible to see even great advancements from the frontiers of science.