N3uroi
N3uroi t1_it8ezrz wrote
Reply to comment by arhombus in Engineers at Duke University have developed a novel delivery system for cancer treatment involving a radioactive implant demonstrating its potential against one of the disease’s most troublesome forms: pancreatic cancer. by chrisdh79
No, I don't agree. How do you define "help"? A localized treatment can never heal a systemic disease, like metastatic cancer. I detailed exactly under which circumstances it could be a beneficial treatment.
N3uroi t1_it8d5cb wrote
Reply to comment by arhombus in Engineers at Duke University have developed a novel delivery system for cancer treatment involving a radioactive implant demonstrating its potential against one of the disease’s most troublesome forms: pancreatic cancer. by chrisdh79
That's not true. Even if the tumor has metastazised, it is still very possible that the primary tumor ultimately provokes fatal consequences. To take the example of my mother, her pancreatic tumor grew to block the veins draining the kidneys. While her ultimate cause of death was pancreatic cancer, the proximate was kidney failure, exacerbated by severe dehydration from ileus which resulted from the peritoneal metastases of the pancreatic cancer. Her kidney function before the ileus developed was at only 15 %, which is a kidney failure by definition.
Even before metastases develop, a large proportion of tumors is inoperable due to involvement of blood vessels. This group of patients is the target for these treatments. In pancreatic cancer the tumor microevironment, mainly the pancreatic stellate cells hinder the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Radiotherapy is limited in its applicability by the sensitivity of surrounding tissue, namely the small intestine. It is therefore great to have different treatment options. Future studies will show the effectiveness in comparison with established treatment regimes and this may or may not be an improvement.
N3uroi t1_j8flmtz wrote
Reply to comment by NameUnavail in Is there a formula to know the temperature of fluids after mixing ? by malahchi
Quite good and thorough answer. This only works for mixing liquids with the same (or close enough) chemical compositions though. With two different liquids reactions might take place though, altering the final amount of heat dramatically. The enthaply of mixing might be positive or negative as well. Therefore, mixing two different solutions at the same temperature can consume or produce heat as well.