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A new nuclear imaging prototype detects tumors’ faint glow

Doctors could someday use Cerenkov light to detect cancer

image of an object glowing blue from Cerenkov light

Cerenkov light, generated by high-speed particles traveling faster than light through a material, emits a blue glow. The light can be used to image a variety of cancers, new research shows.

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By Anna Gibbs

A type of light commonly observed in astrophysics experiments and nuclear reactors can help detect cancer. In a clinical trial, a prototype of an imaging machine that relies on this usually bluish light, called Cerenkov radiation, successfully captured the presence and location of cancer patients’ tumors, researchers report April 11 in Nature Biomedical Engineering.