Speaker
Prof.
Justin Wells
(Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU))
Description
Chemotherapy treatment usually involves the delivery of fluorouracil (5-Fu) together with other drugs through central venous catheters. Catheters and their connectors are increasingly treated with silver or argentic alloys/compounds. Complications arising from broken catheters are common, leading to additional suffering for patients and increased medical costs. Here, we use synchrotron techniques (PES and NEXAFS) to uncover a likely cause of such failure. We study the surface chemistry relevant to chemotherapy drug delivery, i.e. between 5-Fu and catheter materials. We show that silver catalytically decomposes 5-Fu, compromising the efficacy of the chemotherapy treatment. Furthermore, HF is released as a product, which will be damaging to both patient and catheter. We demonstrate that graphene surfaces inhibit this undesirable reaction and would offer superior performance as nanoscale coatings in cancer treatment applications.
| Keywords | Chemotherapy, Graphene, Photoemission, NEXAFS, surface chemistry |
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Primary author
Prof.
Justin Wells
(Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU))
