Dr.

Today, the growing consensus among experts is that surgery should no longer be the only therapeutic option in rectal cancer treatment. A non-invasive approach, the Watch-and-Wait protocol – which drastically reduces the toll of the disease on patients’ quality of life – has increasingly shown promising results for the treatment of such tumours. A new study now explores the next logical step: whether these patients should be submitted for life or just for a certain period to the stringent follow-up required by the protocol.

Aspiring to move beyond the “one-sentence” headline and get into the nitty gritty of the scientific process, CCU's Communication, Outreach and Events Team has created an animated science collection called "Inside the Unknown".

The collection kicks off with a selection of four projects, presenting studies from the three departments of Champalimaud Research. Mirroring the scientific work within, this collection will continue to evolve and grow over time. 

Welcome to your journey Inside the Unknown.

Last January, a team at the Champalimaud Clinical Centre, in Lisbon, successfully tested the precision of a novel, non-invasive, 100% digital method for locating cancerous breast tumours “on the fly” during surgery. For the first time in operating room settings, a surgeon fitted with an “augmented reality” headset was able to visualise, in real-time, a virtual image of the tumour to be extracted from inside the patient’s body.