Yes, you read it right, scientists believe the precious gems can help cure cancer!. A new drug in the form of a patch is studded with many tiny specks of diamonds which act as a targeted receiver for radiation therapies. The doctors hope this may eventually allow cancer patients to receive chemotherapy treatments exactly where its needed.
The flexible microfilm, which looks like plastic wrap, is embedded with tiny pieces of diamond that release a common chemotherapy drug slowly over a pre prescribed time thereby limiting patient exposure to the drug’s toxic side effects.
“The thin device – a sort of blanket or patch – could be used to treat a localized region where residual cancer cells might remain after a tumour is removed,” Dean Ho of Northwestern University, whose research appears in the journal ACS Nano, said in a statement.
The material is made of nanodiamonds, fragments of diamond dust comprised of only a few clusters of carbon atoms. Clusters of nanodiamonds have a high surface area that makes them ideal for carrying drugs. Then they tested it to see how well it released drugs over time. They found the drug released slowly and evenly for a month, with doxorubicin to spare.
The team hopes this diamond-studded technology can be used to complement injected chemotherapy to reduce dosages and decrease its side effects.