Scientists have eliminated serious pain in people with cancer by unleashing radio waves inside bone.
Tumors appearing inside bone when cancers develop may be extremely painful. The new technique, called radio-frequency ablation, releases energy via a needle inserted into bone to reach the edge of the tumor. According to study coauthor Matthew R. Callstrom of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, the radio waves produce warmth that kills tumor cells within about 10 minutes.
Scientists have eliminated serious pain in people with cancer by unleashing radio waves inside bone.
Tumors appearing inside bone when cancers develop may be extremely painful. The new technique, called radio-frequency ablation, releases energy via a needle inserted into bone to reach the edge of the tumor. According to study coauthor Matthew R. Callstrom of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, the radio waves produce warmth that kills tumor cells within about 10 minutes.
He claims that targeting the surface where the tumor meets the bone seems to be dangerous. “Our thought is that nerve fibers in that area-where tumor cells are eroding bone-are the pain generators,” he says. Bone seems to be unaffected by the procedure.
Scientists succeeded in treating 62 patients in whom conventional cancer therapy had failed. According to Callstrom, 59 of them reported considerable pain relief, and 28 said they experienced total pain relief at some times.
“We’re not curing cancer with this treatment,” he says. “But we’re affecting the pain that patients have. The most important [concern] for all these patients is their quality of life.”
