In children with bone tumors, it can be difficult to remove all tumor tissue during surgery. In kidney tumor surgeries, not enough lymph nodes are always removed, making it hard to determine how aggressive the tumor is. And during abdominal surgeries, children can suffer damage to the ureter—the tube between the kidneys and the bladder. These surgical challenges reduce the quality of life for children with cancer.
Special dyes
With the GLOW project, funded by this Young Investigator Grant, Willemieke Tummers from the Wijnen group at the Princess Máxima Center aims to improve surgeries for children with cancer. FGS uses special dyes that light up under a near-infrared camera, allowing surgeons to see more clearly during surgery. The technique will be tested in three situations: to visualize lymph nodes in kidney tumors, to locate the ureter during abdominal surgeries, and to distinguish between tumor and healthy tissue in bone tumors.
Reducing complications
Willemieke Tummers, a pediatric surgery resident and researcher in the Wijnen group at the Máxima, is leading the study. She explains:
‘We want children with cancer to have the best possible chance of recovery, without unnecessary harm. If fluorescence-guided surgery proves effective, we can operate with much greater precision. That means removing more tumor tissue while preserving important structures. We hope this will reduce complications and improve the quality of life for children with bone, kidney, or abdominal tumors.’
If the project is successful, the researchers plan to expand the study to other hospitals and collaborate with pharmaceutical companies to make the dyes more widely available. The ultimate goal: to make fluorescence-guided surgery a standard part of operations for children with cancer.
KWF is supporting Willemieke Tummers’ research with a Young Investigator Grant of over €750,000. In this funding round, KWF has awarded a total of 16 translational research projects.