Heat Kills Lung Cancer
Reported April 5, 2005
NEW ORLEANS (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Late-breaking research presented over the weekend at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology in New Orleans shows heat may be the best way to kill lung cancer.
Riccardo Lencioni, M.D., from the University of Pisa in Italy, presented research on 106 patients. Thirty-three people had non-small lung cancer, while 73 others had cancer that had spread to the lungs. None of the patients were candidates for surgery. Patients were treated with radiofrequency ablation — a treatment that uses intense heat via radiofrequency waves to kill tumors. The dead tumor then shrinks and forms a scar. The treatment is already approved by the FDA and is ideal for people who are not able to undergo surgery.
Now, Dr. Lencionis research shows the success of the treatment is well worth pursuing. After RFA, the tumors were successfully killed in 93 percent of patients in the study. Patients had a 91-percent cancer-specific survival rate at one and two years after the treatment. Thats significant, says Dr. Lencioni, because 85 percent of patients with lung cancer are incurable. Most patients are not candidates for surgery, and effective treatment is needed for those patients. RFA can improve survival, reduce pain, and improve quality of life for these patients.
Dr. Lencioni says, This research shows that [RFA] effectively destroys cancer cells inside the lung without surgery. This research also shows that [RFA] treatment can improve patients survival without worsening their quality of life.
The lung is the most common site for primary cancer worldwide, and nearly 174,000 new cases of lung cancer will be diagnosed in 2005. More Americans will die of lung cancer each year than from breast, prostate and colorectal cancers combined.
SOURCE: Stacie Overton at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology in New Orleans, March 31-April 4, 2005