Prostate cancer: Glowing dye used to help find invisible cells

Lead researcher Prof Freddie Hamdy told the BBC it was too early to know if it would work on every patient, but that it was “promising”.

“In many patients, we saw cancer that we would not have seen otherwise,” he said.

“It’s the first time we’ve managed to see such fine details of prostate cancer in real-time during surgery,” Prof Hamdy said.

“With this technique, we can strip all the cancer away, including the cells that have spread from the tumour which could give it the chance to come back later. “

“Equally important is cancer we don’t see,” he added.

Prof Hamdy believes the method will mean more healthy tissue can be preserved in surgery, reducing the chance of side effects that can sometimes happen following prostate operations, such as erectile dysfunction and incontinence.