Hypoxia was identified as a micro environmental component of tumours over 60 years ago and was immediately recognized as a potential barrier to therapy through the reliance of radiotherapy on oxygen to elicit maximal cytotoxicity. Over the last two decades both clinical and experimental studies have markedly enhanced the understanding of how hypoxia influences cellular behaviour and therapy response. Furthermore, researchers have confirmed early assumptions that low oxygenation status in tumours is an exploitable target in cancer therapy. In this paper, we describe the methods of diagnosis and measuring tumour hypoxia using UV-Visible, Atomic emission spectroscopy and Magnetic resonance imaging. The study of oxyhaemoglobin content of healthy and cancerous blood was carried out using UV-Visible spectroscopic techniques. The estimation of the amount of iron content in cancerous blood patients was done by atomic emission spectroscopy. The results revealed a decrease in the trace elemental iron concentration. This in turn decreases the oxyhaemoglobin level in leukemic patients. The deficiency of trace elemental iron lead to hypoxia, and is further confirmed by Magnetic Resonance Imaging of kidney of the patients.
