Lung Ablation to Treat Lung Cancer

Combining the latest image-guided radiological and surgical techniques, radiofrequency ablation (RFA) uses a thin wire probe, inserted directly into tumors, to heat and kill cancer cells with electrical current. Employed successfully for years in liver,

Female Speaker: Barbara Miller from Middletown Rhode Island is 67, married, and busy raising two grandchildren. She developed emphysema from years of cigarette smoking. Barbara Miller: I smoke for 40 years, until they told me I had to give up smoking. I gave it up 11 years ago, but that's what we did it I wish you know you can't take anything bad but, look what did it to my life. Female Speaker: When Barbara's cancer was discovered, it was still localized to her lungs. Normally surgery would have been the optimal course of treatment. Followed by radiation and/or chemotherapy, but emphysema complicated the situation. Doctors now believe that when the cancer is confined to the lung a procedure called Radiofrequency Ablation or RFA maybe an option for lung cancer patients when age and overall health prevents utilization of other treatment options. Dr. Damian Dupuy is the Director of Minimally Invasive Therapy and Ultrasound at Rhode Island Hospital in providence. Dr. Damian Dupuy: Radiofrequency ablation is a technique whereby a needle electrode is placed into a tumor. That needle electrode is connected to an electrical generator and this electrical circuit that is connected produces frictional heat as the electrons are flowing back and forth into the tissue. As the tumor heats up the cancer cells die. Female Speaker: They have only have been about 1,500 lung ablations performed in the US out of an estimated 1.4 million new cases of lung cancer over the past 9 years. Dr. Ghulam Abbas at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center says many of his patients need the RFA procedure to avoid further lung complications. Dr. Ghulam Abbas: RFA is a very localized treatment does not causes any compromise to the already poor primary functions. It just treats the tumor and we treat the one centimeter area around the tumor, so it does not destroy the lungs. Female Speaker: Barbara Miller is convinced the RFA procedure worked for her. Barbara Miller: I don't even get short of breath, a lot of people don't believe that they took my chance away from me, but it's true. I know they did because I know how good I feel and I know I haven't felt this good in years. Female Speaker: Time was very much a deciding factor for Bill Morgan, who runs a small business from his home in Warwick Rhode Island. Now 80 years young Bill was in the navy during the Second World War, but he began the battle of his life two years ago, when he was diagnosed with lung cancer. Bill Morgan: The alternative was invasive surgery. They would actually take off those the bottom of my right lung, which, that it's your two or three months recovering from that and do I need any other reason to say why I went to, the reason I accepted, surgery is very invasive and painful and uncomfortable and- Dr. Damian Dupuy: We're able to treat these frail elderly patients successfully with this procedure because it's a small puncture into the lung and by and large 90 to 95% go home the same day. So it's a very non-toxic procedure even for this frail group of people. Female Speaker: More RFA trials are currently underway and doctors expect to have even more definitive analysis about the procedure within the next five years.