SOURCE: OR-Live, Inc.
September 03, 2008 07:15 ET
REMINDER: ORLive Presents: Radiofrequency Ablation of a Kidney Tumor
Live Webcast: From Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center: September 3, 2008 12:00 PM EDT (16:00 UTC)
WINSTON-SALEM, NC--(Marketwire - September 3, 2008) - A study of patients with kidney cancer
has shown that radiofrequency ablation, a
minimally invasive, kidney-sparing procedure, can be a successful treatment
option for patients whose cancer has not spread beyond the kidney, report
researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.
Results from the three year study, which evaluated 22 patients who received
the treatment, are published in the July issue of the American Journal of
Roentgenology. The treatment uses computed tomography to guide the
placement of a special needle-shaped electrode into the tumor. A
radiofrequency current is then passed through the electrode to heat the
tumor tissue and ablate -- or eliminate -- it. Complete tumor
ablation was achieved after a single treatment in 83 percent of the
patients; an additional eight percent had complete tumor ablation after two
or more treatments. None of the patients had long-term or serious
complications.
"These results are significant and encouraging because the incidence of
kidney cancer in the United States has increased by 126 percent over the
past 50 years," said Ronald J. Zagoria, professor of radiologic sciences at
Wake Forest Baptist and principal investigator of the study.
For the past 50 years, the standard of care for kidney cancer has been
radical nephrectomy -- removal of the kidney. More recently, partial
nephrectomy has been shown to have equivalent results for curing small
low-stage renal cancers, indicating that kidney-sparing procedures can be
curative. However, nephrectomy is not ideal for many patients, such as
those who cannot tolerate surgery because of other health-related
conditions.
Advances in imaging techniques have resulted
in detecting the tumors when they are much smaller, often in patients who
show no symptoms. The success of radiofrequency ablation in treating kidney
cancer is largely dependent on tumor size.
In this study, tumors smaller than 3 cm in diameter were completely ablated
with a single treatment. Residual tumor was found only in
patients with tumors greater than 3.1 cm, suggesting that larger tumors are
more difficult to eradicate completely with radiofrequency ablation.
"Radiofrequency ablation offers us another potentially curative option for
appropriate patients," said Zagoria. While additional studies are needed to
determine its long-term success, it could prove to be a useful treatment
for patients who are not ideal surgical candidates. In addition, the length
of hospital stay, cost and risk of complications for radiofrequency
ablation are projected to be less than for nephrectomy.
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VNR: www.OR-Live.com