TED-科幻级别的纳米癌症预警器

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国际抗癌联盟认为，1/3的癌症是可以预防的，1/3的癌症如能早期诊断是可以治愈的，1/3的癌症可以减轻痛苦，延长生命。

今天的TED演讲，就是由致力于这其中1/3早期确诊研究技术中的IBM科学家带来的，让癌症不再是死刑的福音。

https://v.qq.com/txp/iframe/player.html?vid=n0534bj8ozg&width=500&height=375&auto=0

讲师：Joshua Smith

授课语言：英文

类型：医学、演讲、TED全网首播

课程简介：本期TED演讲嘉宾Joshua Smith先生正在通过纳米科技研发一种能提早发现人体癌细胞的方法,这种方法简单而且对人体无伤害,一旦普及将给癌症检测领域带来革命性的影响,从而拯救万千生命. ( 网易公开课编辑整理)

精选段落：

Now, we're all aware that an early diagnosis that is accurate is critical for survival. The problem is that many cancer diagnostic tools are invasive, costly, often inaccurate and they can take an agonizing amount of time to get the results back. Still worse, when it comes to some forms of cancer, such as ovarian, liver or pancreatic cancer, good screening methods simply don't exist, meaning that often people wait until physical symptoms surface, which are themselves already indicators of late-stage progression. Like a tornado strike in an area without an early warning system, there is no alarm to warn, for the danger is already at your doorstep when your odds of survival are greatly reduced. Having the convenience and accessibility of regular screening options that are affordable, noninvasive and could provide results much sooner, would provide us with a formidable weapon in the fight against cancer.

An early warning would allow us to get out ahead of the disease instead of merely following in its relentless wake. And this is exactly what I've been doing. For the past three years, I've been developing technologies that could ultimately aid clinicians with rapid, early-stage cancer diagnostics. And I've been fueled by a deep scientific curiosity, and a passion to change these statistics.

Last year however, this fight became much more personal when my wife was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was an experience that added a strong and unexpected emotional dimension to these efforts. I know firsthand how life-altering treatment can be, and I'm keenly aware of the emotional havoc that cancer can wreak on a family, which in our case included our two young daughters. Because we found it early during a routine mammogram, we were able to focus primarily on treatment options for the localized tumor, reaffirming to me how important an early diagnosis is. Unlike other forms of cancer, mammograms do offer an early-stage screening option for breast cancer. Still, not everyone has this done, or they may develop breast cancer before the middle age recommendation for having a mammogram. So, there's still a lot of room for improvement, even for cancers that do have screening options, and, of course, considerable benefits for those that don't.

现在，我们都知道，准确的早期诊断对于生存至关重要。问题是许多癌症诊断工具是强侵害性的，昂贵的，通常不准确的，并且还要等待许久来获得结果。更糟糕的是，对于某些癌症，如卵巢癌，肝癌或胰腺癌时，良好的筛查方法根本不存在，这意味着人们经常等到身体出现不良症状时才察觉到，而这本身就已经是末期的预兆了。如同在没有预警系统地区突发了龙卷风袭击一样，毫无预兆但危险已经在你的门口，让你的生存几率大大降低。因此，发明出可负担的，无创的，可快速出检查结果的定期筛选选项，将为我们在抗击癌症方面提供强大的武器。

早期确诊能使我们尽早得到治疗，而不是仅仅是坐以待毙，等待癌症苏醒。这正是我一直在研究的目的。在过去三年中，我一直在研发可以帮助临床医师进行早期快速确诊癌症的科技。身为科学家，我心怀深切的好奇心，以及无限热情想改变这些数字。

然而去年，这场战斗蔓延到我的私人生活，我的妻子被诊断患有乳腺癌。这样的经历为我提供了前所未有且强大的精神动力。我深知癌症治疗会对一个人的生活产生多大的改变。我也清楚癌症给一个家庭造成什么样的精神负担。在我们的家，其中包括我们两个年幼的女儿。因为我妻子的乳癌发现得早，便在常规乳房X线检查中被查出。我们选择了医治局部肿瘤的治疗方法。这让我更加确信在癌症中，早期确诊的重要性。与其他癌症不同，乳腺X线检查可以检测出早期乳腺癌。但并不是每位患者都会这么做，亦或者她们还未到中年，还没有被建议去做乳房X光检查前，已发展成乳腺癌。所以，即使是有筛查方法的癌症，仍有许多需要改良的地方，对那些尚未研发出筛查方法的癌症，更是如此。

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