Ideas worth spreading

1,248,221 views | Quyen Nguyen • TEDMED 2011

Color-coded surgery

Surgeons are taught from textbooks which conveniently color-code the types of tissues, but that's not what it looks like in real life -- until now. At TEDMED Quyen Nguyen demonstrates how a molecular marker can make tumors light up in neon green, showing surgeons exactly where to cut.

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This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

Surgeons are taught from textbooks which conveniently color-code the types of tissues, but that's not what it looks like in real life -- until now. At TEDMED Quyen Nguyen demonstrates how a molecular marker can make tumors light up in neon green, showing surgeons exactly where to cut.

This talk was presented at an official TED conference. TED's editors chose to feature it for you.

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Quyen Nguyen uses molecular probes that make tumors -- and just the tumors -- glow, as an extraordinary aid to surgeons.