By transforming radio signals into a surgical laser, surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania Cancer Center are using high-energy radio frequency sound waves to destroy inoperable primary and metastatic liver tumors. The powerful procedure -- called radio frequency ablation -- is available exclusively in the Delaware Valley region at Penn's Cancer Center... and available at only a few select hospitals across the nation.
This technology enhances a surgeon's ability to access and successfully treat liver tumors -- which are commonly deemed "inoperable" due to their anatomical position inside the organ itself. "Many patients exhibit tumors in the liver that cannot be removed safely while still preserving the remaining organ," explains Frank Spitz, MD, Assistant Professor of Surgery at Penn. "Or, a patient may have multiple tumors that make surgical extraction next to impossible." To get at those formerly inaccessible tumors via radio frequency ablation, surgeons use ultrasound as a visual roadmap to guide a needle-sized probe directly into the center of the cancerous tumor. Once inside the tumor, the tip of the probe is carefully opened to permit heat- delivering wire extensions to penetrate across a larger area of the tumor. Fully extended, the wire extensions resemble an opened umbrella against the tumor. Finally, the surgeon literally chars the tumorous tissue by zapping up to 100 watts of heat through the probe tip and attached tentacle-like extensions. The heat--similar to what is generated by a microwave oven--kills the tumor. Once all the tumor cells are dead, the body absorbs this tissue over time and no resection of the tumor is needed.
In a recently approved protocol, Penn's cancer specialists
are studying the effectiveness of radio frequency ablation in
destroying tumors. "We hope that the study results will indicate
that the technique completely destroys tumors so that patients
who, at
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Contact: Sue Montgomery
smontgom@mail.med.upenn.edu
(215) 349-5657
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
23-Mar-1998