New Pain Treatments for Bone Tumors

New pain treatment
methods for bone tumors
updated on April 19 2007

Bone cancer, a skeletal cancer usually occurring as a
spreading tumor from cancer elsewhere in the body; seldom
as the first tumor in an area of rapid growth. Cancer cells
gain access to the blood stream, reach the bone marrow,
and grow new blood vessels to obtain oxygen and food -
bone metastases. Bone metastases become painful when
the tumor starts to destroy bone. Fracture may occur. Most
bone cancers are spreading tumors; commonly occur in the
ribs, spine and pelvis. Osteosarcomas, chrondrosarcomas
and fibrosarcomas are the most common bone cancers.
Treatments include surgical removal of the slow-growing
tumors or the whole limb, radiation and chemotherapy [1,2].

NEW PAIN TREATMENTS

More than 60% of patients with advanced cancer have bone
metastases and, pain treatment could benefit as many as
100,000 people in the United States each year. Three new
nonsurgical techniques have been presented in the 30th
Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Interventional
Radiology and they are osteoplasty, radiofrequency ablation
and cryoablation. Because of the localized nature of these
techniques, they may not have any systemic side effects.

CRYOABLATION Cryoablation kills the cancer tissue locally
by freezing it with extreme cold argon gas in a sealed probe,
while sparing the healthy tissue. In this procedure, the
interventional radiologist uses CT and ultrasound imaging to
guide 8 probes through the skin into the tumor, under
anesthesia. The "ice ball" that is created around the probe,
visible with CT imaging, grows in size and destroys the
frozen tumor cells.

RADIO FREQUENCY ABLATION Radiofrequency ablation
kills the cancer tissue locally by transmitting radiofrequency
to the tip of the needle, where it produces heat in the tissue.
The tumor tissue dies, shrinks and forms a scar. This
technique uses CT and ultrasound imaging for guidance.
This successful rate is about 93% percent of cases in a
study. The FDA has approved radio frequency ablation for
the treatment of tumors in soft tissues including the lung [3,4].

OSTEOPLASTY Osteoplasty kills the cancer tissue by
injecting medical grade bone cement into the tumor. In this
procedure, radiologist uses fluoroscopy (continuous X-ray
imaging) to guide the probe to the tumor. The cement
becomes hot when it is mixed. This heat kills the tumor and
hardens the weakened bone to prevent fracture. Tumors
often eat away healthy bone. This is an established
technique used to treat painful vertebral metastases or
fractures in the spine from osteoporosis.

REFERENCES

[1] Mosby's Medical Encyclopeida, 2000 TLC, Inc.
[2] 30th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology, Three
Nonsurgical Pain Treatments for Bone Tumors Very Effective, 03 Apr 2005
[3] E.J. Mundell New Hope Against Inoperable Liver, Lung Cancers HealthDay News April
4 2005
[4] Prospective, Multicenter Lung Cancer Trial Shows Heat Directly Kills Tumors In 93
Percent of Cases, PRNewswire, April 2, 2005

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