Colorectal Cancer News

Living Longer: Colon Cancer Patients Gain Time with Radiofrequency Ablation Treatment

Researchers have found that radiofrequency ablation (RFA), a minimally invasive treatment that applies heat directly in the tumor, can add nearly three years of life to colorectal cancer patients with liver metastases.

"RFA kills target cancer tissue with heat, while sparing the healthy tissue," said Constantinos T. Sofocleous, M.D., Ph.D., FSIR, an interventional radiologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, N.Y. "This is particularly important for patients who develop new colon cancer in the liver after prior surgery. In general, these patients have a smaller amount of liver tissue; another surgery is usually not possible or very difficult and associated with higher risk."

It is possible to be discharged from the hospital within 24 hours of RFA, and it has been proven to not affect a patient's overall health. The procedure entails an interventional radiologist using imaging to guide a needle through the skin into the tumor, which deposits radiofrequency energy into the tissue where it produces heat and kills cancerous cells.

References:

Verrillo, Maryann. Living longer: Colon cancer patients gain time with radiofrequency ablation treatment. EurekAlert! 2010 March 16.

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