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Heat May Combat Lung Cancer

April 4, 2005

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After receiving treatment of radiofrequency heat to "cook" and kill their lung tumors, patients had a 91 percent cancer-specific survival rate at one and two years, according to results of a prospective, multicenter trial that was presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 30th Annual Scientific Meeting.

The research also showed the radiofrequency ablation (RFA) technique successfully killed the tumor inside the body without surgery in 93 percent of the cases.

During radiofrequency ablation, an interventional radiologist inserts a small, energy-delivering probe through the skin, directly into the tumor using imaging for guidance. Heat is delivered through the probe to destroy the tumor cells without significant side effects or damage to nearby normal tissue.

"This research shows that CT-guided radiofrequency ablation effectively destroys cancer cells inside the lung without surgery," says Interventional Radiologist Riccardo Lencioni, M.D., University of Pisa, Italy.

"For patients with primary lung cancer or lung metastases from colorectal cancer who are not surgical candidates, this research also shows that the interventional radiofrequency ablation treatment can improve patients' survival without worsening their quality of life," he said.

By the time lung cancer becomes symptomatic, 85 percent of patients are incurable, often due to serious coexisting health conditions or poor respiratory function.

Most patients who are diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer are not surgical candidates at the time of diagnosis. For these patients, minimally invasive interventional radiology procedures can improve survival, reduce pain, and improve quality of life. Interventional radiologists are uniquely skilled in using imaging guidance to deliver targeted cancer treatments throughout the body nonsurgically.

RFA offers a nonsurgical, localized treatment that kills the tumor cells with heat, while sparing nearby healthy lung tissue.

Thus, this treatment is much easier on the patient than systemic chemotherapy. Radiofrequency energy can be given without affecting the patient's overall health and most people can resume their usual activities in a few days.

It is a minimally invasive tool for local pulmonary tumor control with negligible mortality, little morbidity, short hospital stay, and positive gain in quality of life. It can also be repeated if necessary or combined with other treatment options.

In this procedure, an interventional radiologist guides a small needle through the skin into the tumor. Through the probe, the radiofrequency energy (similar to microwaves) is transmitted to the tip of the needle, where it produces heat in the tissues. The dead tumor tissue shrinks and slowly forms a scar.

RFA can be appropriate for nonsurgical candidates and those with smaller tumors. The FDA has approved RFA for the treatment of tumors in soft tissue, which includes the lung.

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