NoBlood

The Daily Mail (London, England); 3/29/2005
Byline: SARAH SIMS

Needle 'cooks' liver tumours; Good Health



A NEW, minimally invasive technology that 'cooks' tumours using a tiny needle could provide an effective treatment for liver cancer. According to new studies, those who do not meet the criteria for surgery would best benefit from a treatment called radiofrequency (RF) ablation.

Liver cancer patients usually have a poor prognosis, and surgery to remove the cancerous part of the liver is often considered the best - if not the only - hope. However, if the cancer is too far progressed, surgery is often impossible and a transplant may not be viable.

The two new studies suggest that RF ablation offers an effective new option for inoperable liver cancer, and may also help liver cancer patients waiting for a transplant. In RF ablation, surgeons insert an image-guided needle into spots on the liver affected by cancer. The needle then delivers heat directly to these affected regions, destroying tumour cells.

Italian researchers at the University of Pisa used RF ablation on 187 earlystage liver cancer patients with cirrhosis who did not qualify for surgery. After five years, almost half were still alive. A patient with primary liver cancer usually has a less than 25 per cent chance of two-year survival.

At the University of California researchers used RF ablation to treat 24 patients. Almost three-quarters of the tumours were treated successfully.