http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2000/03/000310080143.htm
Date: Posted 3/10/2000
New Procedure Destroys Lung Cancer In China Study
JACKSON, Mississippi, U.S.A. -- All of the PET scans were crystal clear.
Every cancer cell was killed in the targeted zones where lung tumors once had
grown.
The news was everything that was hoped for by Dr. Patrick Sewell, an
assistant professor of radiology and surgery at the University of Mississippi
Medical Center (UMC) in Jackson, Miss. The results of his China study
confirmed the medical viability of his new pioneering surgical procedure.
All nine follow-up PET scans indicate this new procedure is killing 100
percent of targeted tumors, Sewell said in a March 7 press conference at the
medical center. His final surgery was completed the night of March 3 in
Guangzhou (pronounced "gwan-zO"), China, just before his return to Jackson
from the 16-day-trip.
These findings could give lung cancer patients a favorable alternative to
traditional treatments and change the way lung cancer surgery is performed
worldwide.
Sewell developed the interventional radiology procedure -- called
radiofrequency of the lung tumor ablation -- and is considered the world's
authority on it. He performed it for the first time in the world at UMC about
a year ago. The Guangzhou, China, Study marked the first time the procedure's
effectiveness on primary tumors was tested and the first time follow-up PET
scans were performed.
"It's so good for the patients," Sewell explained, "that they can be treated
so completely, so quickly, so safely and so cheaply with this procedure.
"It makes perfect scientific sense," he added. "But, emotionally, it's beyond
belief to see patients come in and go so quickly and their tumors are
treated. Even as much as I believe in this procedure, it's still hard to
believe."
Dr. Ralph Vance, an oncologist and UMC professor of medicine, said, "In the
20 years I've been treating cancer, this procedure has the potential for
being the greatest thing that's ever come about."
Vance accompanied Sewell on the first trip to China, in October, and designed
the protocols for the surgeries in the latest trip, which officially is named
the Guangzhou, China, Study.
The procedure kills cancer with a radiofrequency (hot) probe, which is
inserted into tumors and guided by interventional CAT scan images. Within a
day or two after their surgeries, all of the China patients had follow-up PET
(positron-emission tomography) scans, which detect metabolic activity in live
cells, such as cancer cells.
The successful results also came earlier than expected in the process.
"Initially, we were going to do some of the PET scans early and some in about
four months because we didn't know if the immediate scans would provide clear
evidence of killed (cancer) cells," said Dr. Thomas Lawson, a pathologist and
director of clinical affairs for Radio Therapeutics Corp., the U.S. company
that manufacturers the probe. "After all, nobody had ever seen a PET scan on
thermally treated lung tissue, until now.
"But the results were conclusive," Lawson added, so all of the PET scans were
conducted immediately. "There's no reason to wait." Radio Therapeutics paid
for the PET scans, which cost $2,000 each.
The Guangzhou, China, Study ideally was to have 10 patients. Sewell saved the
10th patient position for Jackson. He will perform the study's 10th surgery
at UMC in the next several weeks.
The study's aim was to prove this procedure kills both metastasized (cancer
that has spread) and primary (non-metastasized) tumors of the lung. Only
tumors that were isolated and surrounded by healthy tissue qualified for the
study, so follow-up PET scans could clearly evaluate the treated area.
The first PET scan result came in Feb. 26. It showed no metabolic activity in
the tumor area treated, nor in the area immediately surrounding the tumor,
which also was treated. That indicated all cancer was killed in the targeted
zone, Sewell explained then. "There is increased metabolic activity, however,
around the dead tumor's location, which is a natural result of the thermal
injury" to healthy (non-cancerous) tissue. "This is exactly what we would
expect to see," he said Feb. 26. That ring of metabolic activity around the
treated zone was caused by healing of the area heated by the probe.
In the year Sewell has performed this procedure at UMC, all but one of his
American patients had metastasized lung cancer. One, who underwent surgery
shortly before the China trip began, had primary lung cancer. In the United
States, primary lung cancer traditionally is treated with conventional
surgery, chemotherapy and/or radiation.
Among the nine Chinese patients: five had primary tumors with no indications
of metastasis, two had primary lung tumors with metastasis and two had
metastasized cancer that had spread to the lung from other locations.
The nine patients, who ranged and age from 38 to 78, had surgeries that
lasted from 40 minutes to 4 3/4 hours. Four were women. All were Chinese.
Their tumors ranged in size from a dime to a grapefruit.
No China patient required general anesthesia. Eight were treated with local
anesthesia and one was treated with local anesthesia and heavy sedation.
In Sewell's procedure, there is less trauma to the body and a much shorter
recovery period than for conventional surgery or chemotherapy. His procedure
is much less expensive than conventional surgery and/or chemotherapy. After
his procedure, patients usually go home within a day or two.
Five of the Chinese patients underwent surgery at the Tumor Hospital of
Guangzhou. The other four had their surgeries at one of three Shanghai
hospitals. He also lectured physicians in Beijing, Xi'an, Guangzhou and
Shanghai. As few as a dozen and as many as five bus loads of Chinese
physicians observed each of Sewell's procedures.
"We're naming the study for Guangzhou because they were the most enthusiastic
and they found the most and the best patients for the study," Sewell said.
"The also are a hospital devoted to the treatment of tumors."
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-- Note: This story has been adapted from a news release issued by University Of Mississippi Medical Center for journalists and other members of the public. If you wish to quote from any part of this story, please credit University Of Mississippi Medical Center as the original source. You may also wish to include the following link in any citation:
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