| Radio-frequency
ablation of pain due to bone metastases now a treatment option in
the United States Radio-frequency ablation significantly reduces pain associated with bone metastases and enhances quality of life for this patient population, according to findings reported at the 2002 annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and published in the July issue of Radiology. Based on the findings from the international study, the treatment was recently approved for use in the U.S. with cancer patients who have two or three painful bone metastases. Radio-frequency ablation has been used for several years to treat hepatic and renal cancer. The current study demonstrates that ablation can be equally effective in killing the malignant cells of bone metastases. Investigators in the international trial enrolled a total of 43 patients with pain refractory to radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Before ablation treatment, patients reported pain that averaged 7.5 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 the worst level of (unbearable) pain. Pain scores were reduced by an average of 50 percent 8 weeks after the procedure; At 24 weeks follow-up, the average pain score was 1. Overall, 95 percent (41 of 43 patients) experienced significant pain relief and improved quality of life. Researchers continue to follow patients and have found that many of the surviving patients continue to have reduced pain one year after the initial radio-frequency ablation procedure. Lesion size in the trial participants was
1 to 11 cm. The ablation procedure itself required roughly 30 to
60 minutes to perform. Patients were given a light general anesthetic,
and a thin needle was inserted percutaneously and guided to the
target site by computed tomography or ultrasound imaging. The intense
heat transmitted through the tip of the needle killed the afferent
nerve endings and much of the cancer tissue, thereby alleviating
pain in both the short-term and longer-term follow-up. |