Hair-thin fibre optics for cancer treatments

Star: KUALA TERENGGANU: Fibre optic glass that is as thin as human hair will be made available for cancer treatments in Malaysia in the next few years.
Research on the device known as Doped Radiosensitive Glass (DRG) is being jointly carried out by Telekom Research and Development Sdn Bhd and Britain's Surrey University.
Surrey University Physics Department lecturer Dr David A. Bardley said work on the fibre optic glass and silica gel component to gauge the level of radiation had now reached 75%, but that there was still intensive research to be carried out.
He said the research was conducted in collaboration with Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
Dr Bardley was speaking to newsmen after presenting his paper at the Second International Conference on Solid State Science and Technology.
He said DRG could aid in maximising radiation treatment on cancer cells while sparing healthy tissues.
Dr Bardley pointed out that this was because DRG functioned as a sensitive detector on the radiotherapy dosage to provide accurate reading.