Source: Dailymail.co.uk A throat spray has been developed to spot cancer of the oesophagus at an early stage. The disease, which killed Morse star John Thaw, is one of the most deadly cancers because it is often missed or wrongly diagnosed until too late. Current methods used to detect it can be inaccurate, so many patients are given unnecessary invasive treatment including removal of their oesophagus, the ‘food pipe’ that connects the throat to the stomach. Early detection key: If caught early, the cancerous cells can be zapped with an electric current which kills them without surgery. Now scientists have developed a fluorescent dye spray which sticks to healthy cells in the oesophagus but cannot attach itself to cancer cells or those in the early stages of turning cancerous. This gives a clear signpost to where the disease is developing. If caught at this stage, the cancer cells can be ‘zapped’ with an electric current which kills them without surgery. The treatment offers hope to more than 8,000 Britons a year who are diagnosed with oesophageal cancer. One of the patients in the study had their entire oesophagus removed because a small pre-cancerous area had been identified – which using the dye was found to have been very small and could have been treated without surgery. Deadly: Oesophageal cancer is one of the most fatal because it is often missed or wrongly diagnosed until it is too late. Two patients whose cancer had not shown up using the current imaging [...]