{"id":211549,"date":"2026-02-09T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/09\/uchealth-using-new-technology-to-identify-cancer-cells-previously-missed\/"},"modified":"2026-02-09T08:20:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T13:20:09","slug":"uchealth-using-new-technology-to-identify-cancer-cells-previously-missed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/09\/uchealth-using-new-technology-to-identify-cancer-cells-previously-missed\/","title":{"rendered":"UCHealth using new technology to identify cancer cells previously missed"},"content":{"rendered":"

UCHealth using new technology to identify cancer cells previously missed<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.denver7.com\/lifestyle\/health\/uchealth-using-new-technology-to-identify-cancer-cells-previously-missed<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-02-09 08:00:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.denver7.com<\/a><\/p>\n

AURORA, Colo. \u2014 Surgeons at UCHealth Anschutz Cancer Pavilion in Aurora are using new technology to identify cancer cells they normally would\u2019ve missed.<\/p>\n

Pafolacianine, also known by the brand name CYTALUX, is a molecule that binds to cancer cells and lights them up with fluorescent markers, making them glow. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved it for use in the lungs and ovaries.<\/p>\n

Patients get an infusion hours before surgery where doctors use a robot a camera and a near-infrared light to make that fluorescent light visible.<\/p>\n

Denver7 spoke with Dr. Robert Meguid, who specializes in surgery on the lungs, esophagus and chest wall. He said pafolacianine is effective in flagging cancers missed by CT scans and the naked eye, and it gives his team more confidence they\u2019ve removed all cancers during a surgery.<\/p>\n

Meguid said it\u2019s especially helpful in patients with cancers elsewhere in the body that spread to the lungs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is, to me, a really exciting time in healthcare,\u201d Meguid told Denver7. \u201cBecause there’s so many advances that are making it to patient care delivery that are improving their outcomes, to help patients be cancer free or have improved quality of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meguid said at this point, very few medical centers nationally are using pafolacianine, but that it\u2019s gaining traction. UCHealth Anschutz Cancer Pavilion has been using it for about a year and a half, Meguid said, and it was the first medical center in Colorado to use it on adult lungs.<\/p>\n

Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Ryan Fish<\/p>\n

Denver7\u2019s Ryan Fish covers stories that have an impact in all of Colorado\u2019s communities, but specializes in covering artificial intelligence, technology, aviation and space. If you\u2019d like to get in touch with Ryan, fill out the form below to send him an email.<\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UCHealth using new technology to identify cancer cells previously missed https:\/\/www.denver7.com\/lifestyle\/health\/uchealth-using-new-technology-to-identify-cancer-cells-previously-missed Publish Date: 2026-02-09 08:00:00…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":211550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ewscripps.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/566f81a\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1280x672+0+24\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fewscripps-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fed%2F69%2F510886c9455f88023e8b8118f546%2Fuchealth-cancer-screening.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[101,119,85],"class_list":["post-211549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-health","tag-medical","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211549"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211549\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211551,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211549\/revisions\/211551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}