Swedish Covenant Hospital offers new options to treat tumors that cannot be removed surgically: transcatheter chemoembolization and tumor ablation.
Chemoembolization focuses chemotherapy treatment directly on the tumor, so minimal healthy tissue is affected by the therapy. Tumor ablation uses treatment that actually shrinks the size of the tumor.
Both of these treatments can ease the complications of cancer and improve your quality of life. Read on below for more details about these breakthrough treatments.
Transcatheter Chemoembolization
Transcatheter chemoembolization is a minimally invasive technique that delivers treatment directly to a tumor. While this procedure does not cure liver cancer, 70 percent of patients with liver cancer experience improvement and may live longer.
During chemoembolization, an interventional radiologist guides a tiny catheter to the artery that feeds the tumor. Chemotherapy drugs and other tiny particles are injected into the tumor, sparing healthy tissue from treatment.
Because the drugs go directly to the tumor and don't travel throughout the body, stronger doses of cancer-killing drugs can be used. The tiny particles block blood flow through the artery, effectively "starving" the tumor and causing it to shrink.
Following the procedure, the patients often return home within two days. While this procedure may reduce side effects compared with standard chemotherapy, patients often feel pain, fevers, fatigue and loss of appetite for about a week and most patients return to their usual state of health in about a month.
Chemoembolization procedures can be repeated and it can be used in conjunction with other cancer therapies.
Tumor Ablation
Tumor ablation is another option for those with liver cancer. During this procedure, heat, cold, radio frequencies or substances such as alcohol are delivered directly to a tumor that cannot be removed through surgery because of their size or location. Tumor ablation techniques can help shrink tumors to a size that would allow them to be removed, relieving pain and controlling the spread of tumors.
During tumor ablation, an interventional radiologist uses a needle to deliver a small set of prongs into the tumor. In radiofrequency ablation, a radio frequency is then delivered through the prongs to "burn" the cancerous cells and destroy the tumor. In cryoablation, the prongs are used to freeze and kill the cancer cells.
The procedure can be done on an outpatient basis or with a brief hospital stay. Patients may experience pain, fever and fatigue following the procedure. Most patients can resume their normal activities after a few days.
For more information about either of these procedures, visit the Society of Interventional Radiology. To set up an appointment with an intervention radiologist at Swedish Covenant Hospital, call (773) 989-6242.
