Medical Devices

The human body is made up of billions of tiny building blocks called cells. Sometimes, cells reproduce in an uncontrolled way and grow into a lump, or tumour.

There are two kinds of tumours: noncancerous (benign) and cancerous (malignant). Benign tumours do not spread to other parts of the body and are not life threatening (except in very rare situations).

Cancerous tumours can attack nearby cells and destroy them. Cancer cells can also get into body fluids and spread to other parts of the body. This is called a secondary cancer or metastasis. Blood and lymph are the fluids which transport cancer cells to other parts of the body. Lymph is a nearly clear fluid that travels through lymph vessels and small oval structures called lymph nodes. Lymph fluid eventually mixes with blood which travels throughout the body.

Cancer is not a single disease with one cause and one type of treatment. There are more than 200 different types of cancer. Each has its own natural course of development and response to treatment.

A new fabrication strategy enables scientists to manufacture fully biocompatible, implantable medical devices.