News

NanoKnife Destroys Prostate Cancer In Under An Hour

Surgeons praise the game-changing therapy as a breakthrough in tumor removal procedures.

Published

3 years ago

November 22, 2023

Nour Nasir

NanoKnife

A groundbreaking “NanoKnife” operation has been developed to help fight prostate cancer. Developed by AngioDynamics, the procedure uses electrical pulses guided by MRI scanning to eradicate hard-to-reach tumors, delicately opening cell membranes and reducing the risk of damage to surrounding tissues.

Traditional treatments for prostate cancer involve radiotherapy or removal surgery, often resulting in complications. The NanoKnife therapy offers greater efficiency and could soon be used as an alternative treatment option by the UK’s NHS.

The NanoKnife trials saw six successful operations performed by surgeons from University College London Hospital (UCLH), who praised the treatment’s simplicity and speed. It is now thought that in the future, overnight hospital stays could be eliminated, reducing strain on healthcare systems.

UCLH consultant urologist Mark Emberton said: “We are delighted to have been the first hospital in the NHS to use irreversible electroporation for patients with prostate cancer. And at times like this, when the NHS is under great pressure, day surgery avoids the need for overnight stays in hospital and means that we can use our operating theaters more efficiently”.

Meanwhile, Neil Gershon, one of the recipients of NanoKnife therapy, added, “It was completed in a day, which was fantastic. After the effects of the general anesthesia subsided, I felt perfectly fine, with no discomfort. It couldn’t have gone any smoother”.

Also Read: Google Is Developing An AI Cancer-Spotting Microscope

According to experts, early studies indicate that NanoKnife and similar focal therapies could revolutionize prostate cancer treatment by attacking tumors with unparalleled accuracy. However, the road to widespread adoption depends on the success of more extensive clinical trials.

For the 50,000+ men diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, this new procedure offers a beacon of hope, with swift, effective, and minimally invasive operations redefining the standard of cancer treatment and care.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.