In an effort to enhance the health outcomes for cancer patients, the Biden administration is starting a new initiative that will assist surgeons in identifying and removing cancer cells without harming adjacent tissue which is the ‘cancer moonshot’.
The effort is just the second program overall and the first cancer-focused one under the administration’s multibillion-dollar Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).
The administration’s “cancer moonshot,” which seeks to reduce the cancer mortality rate in half by 2047, is coupled with it.
In order to bring the nation together on a bipartisan basis on causes like combating cancer, President Biden’s unity plan, which was unveiled at his 2022 State of the Union speech, includes ARPA-H and the moonshot.
The program will request suggestions for tools and methods to enhance the visibility of healthy tissue and malignancy during surgery. The White House stated that numerous awards are anticipated, and the resources available would depend on the caliber of the applications received and the accessibility of cash.
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Reducing Medical Expenses with Precision Surgery
For the more than 2 million Americans who are diagnosed with cancer each year, surgery is frequently the initial course of action. However, the state of surgical technology today makes it difficult for surgeons to accurately and completely separate cancer cells from healthy surrounding tissue in the operating room.
According to the administration, this may result in additional surgeries, a more challenging recovery, a return of cancer, and increased medical expenses. The goal of the precision surgical initiative is to make it possible for surgeons to successfully eradicate cancer with just one procedure.
According to the White House, the created technologies will also assist surgeons in identifying and avoiding critical structures like nerves, blood arteries, and lymph nodes that might accidentally be destroyed during invasive surgical procedures.
Similar to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Pentagon, ARPA-H focuses on diabetes, Alzheimer’s, and other disorders.
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Source: thehill.com