The Pink Drink

Professor Colin Watts showed that a drug that makes brain tumours glow pink under UV light can help surgeons find and remove cancer cells.

If you were searching for something in a dark room, it would be very hard to find. But if someone shone a spotlight directly on what you were looking for, it would be much easier!

This is a bit like surgeons looking for cancer cells amongst healthy cells in the brain. Surgery is a great way to remove the cancer, but it’s tricky. It can be hard for doctors to spot and remove all the cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells intact.

To combat this, Professor Colin Watts tested a drug called 5-ALA, which makes certain brain tumour cells glow fluorescent pink under UV light.

He showed that if patients have a drink containing 5-ALA before their surgery, surgeons can shine a fluorescent light on the brain and expose the most aggressive type of cancer cells, which are crucial for the surgeon to remove.

This drug, now known as The Pink Drink, is available across the NHS, is improving survival and quality of life for people with brain tumours.

Cancer type:

Brain tumours

Location:

Cambridge