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RADIOFREQUENCY ABLATION EFFECTIVELY TREATS BONE CANCER PAIN
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Submitted By: Information, News and Press Releases
Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) substantially reduces pain and vastly improves quality of life in most patients with metastatic bone cancer, according to a multi-center study being presented at the 88th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
“RFA provides clinicians a new treatment option for intractable pain—especially with patients for whom conventional therapies have failed,” said Matthew R. Callstrom, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of radiology at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., one of the nine centers in the U.S. and Europe participating in the ongoing study.
RFA is a minimally invasive procedure that, with computed tomography (CT) or ultrasound guidance, transmits electrical energy through a very small needle inserted through the skin directly into carefully targeted tissue around a tumor. The high-frequency currents heat and destroy a large part of the tumor. Though RFA has been used successfully to treat other types of cancer, this study shows it is also effective at relieving the pain of cancer that has spread to the bone.
“Because radiologists have been using RFA for years on liver, lung and kidney tissue, we have great familiarity and comfort with the ablation procedure,” Dr. Callstrom said.
When cells from a malignant tumor enter the blood stream, they often settle in one or more bones near the body’s center, such as the hip, pelvis, rib, shoulder or spine. This type of spreading cancer is called metastatic bone cancer and is one of the most frequent causes of pain in cancer patients. Using RFA guided by CT or ultrasound, the researchers have treated 62 adults who have metastatic bone disease to determine how effective RFA is in treating skeletal metastatic disease pain.
According to Dr. Callstrom, patients with painful disease spread throughout the skeleton cannot successfully be treated with RFA. The patients in the study had one or two painful lesions, and radiation or chemotherapy had not been palliative, leaving the patients to rely on narcotic pain relievers, which often cause adverse reactions, such as severe constipation.
The findings indicate that, for these patients, RFA is safe and offers dramatic relief. Approximately 81 percent (50 of 62) of the patients attained a high degree of pain relief, and 45 percent (28 of 62) had complete elimination of pain at some point during the six-month follow-up period. Many of the patients had a minimal amount of pain even at the end of life.
Patients’ conditions were assessed before and followed up for six months after the procedure, using the standardized Brief Pain Inventory (BPI), which is a 10-point scale with 10 representing the highest level of pain, and 0 representing no pain. “On a scale of 10 points, our patients typically begin with about a 7 pretreatment pain score and then drop down to an average score of 2. Many patients’ pain levels have dropped to 0,” Dr. Callstrom said. He noted that
while a pain score of 7 means different things to different people, a score of 7 generally indicates that pain is the dominant concern, with the patient watching the clock between medication doses and requiring as much pain medication as can be tolerated.
“Through RFA treatment we have been able to reduce fairly severe pain down to the point where pain is not controlling our patients’ every thought. They have a good quality of life,” Dr Callstrom concluded.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved RFA for treatment in bone cancer pain in October 2002.
Media Contacts: Maureen Morley or Doug Dusik (312) 791-6667
Before 11/30/01 or After 12/6/02: Maureen Morley Doug Dusik
(630) 590-7754 (630) 571-7845
mmorley@rsna.org ddusik@rsna.org
Dr. Callstrom’s co-authors are J.W. Charboneau, M.D., Matthew P. Goetz, M.D., Joseph Rubin, M.D., R. Beres, and D. Regge.
The RSNA is an association of more than 33,000 radiologists, radiation oncologists and physicists in medicine dedicated to education and research in the science of radiology. The Society’s headquarters are located at 820 Jorie Blvd., Oak Brook, Ill. 60523-2251.
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The data in these releases may be different from those in the printed abstract and those actually presented at the meeting, as researchers continue to update their data right up until the meeting. To ensure you are using the most up-to-date information, please call the RSNA newsroom at (312) 791-6667.
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