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The National Institute of Health and Care Excellence has recommended that surgeons working in hospitals with limited or no access to a radiopharmacy department could now use Magtrace and Sentimag as an option to locate sentinel lymph nodes in people with breast cancer. The recommendation in draft NICE medical technology guidance could see a change in NHS standard care for the first time in years. The technology could also mitigate the reliance on radioactive isotope tracers shipped in from outside Great Britain. The magnetic liquid tracer - Magtrace - is a non-radioactive dark brown liquid. It is both a magnetic marker and a visual dye. The Magtrace is injected into the tissue around a tumour. The particles are then absorbed into the lymphatic system, following the route that cancer cells are most likely to take when they spread from the primary tumour and become trapped in sentinel lymph nodes. The Sentimag probe moves over the skin emitting sounds of different pitches as it passes over the Magtrace tracer, in a similar way to a metal detector locating metal in the ground. The nodes often appear dark brown or black in colour, which also helps with identification.

The British scientists behind one of the major therapeutic Covid-19 trials have turned their focus to treatments for monkeypox, a viral disease that has been labelled a global health emergency by the World Health Organization. The team from Oxford University behind the so-called RECOVERY trial - which honed in on four effective Covid treatments - on Tuesday unveiled a new trial, dubbed PLATINUM, to confirm whether Siga Technologies' tecovirimat is an effective treatment for monkeypox. Although there are vaccines developed for the closely related smallpox that can reduce the risk of catching monkeypox, there are currently no treatments that have been proven to help hasten recovery in those who develop the disease. The UK has over 3,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox. The virus is transmitted chiefly through close contact with an infected person. It typically causes mild symptoms including fever, rash, swollen lymph nodes and pus-filled skin lesions. Severe cases can occur, though people tend to recover within two to four weeks. Siga's drug, branded Tpoxx, has been cleared to treat diseases caused by the family of orthopoxvirus that includes smallpox, monkeypox and cowpox by the European Union and United Kingdom, but due to limited trial data it is generally only used in severe cases in Britain.

Ovarian cancer was known to be the "quiet killer" until just recently because detection of the disease could not be done until almost all the other parts of the body have already been affected.