New Device to Reduce Liver Cancer Cells and Pain

A push of a button may just be what it would take to reduce the physical and emotional pains of liver cancer. At the University of Alabama (UAB), researchers rejoice at the promising potential of a new device that shrinks tumors with minor side effects and significantly less painful as other treatments

Liver cancer remains to be among the most expeditious forms of cancer in the US. While patients have the best chances of surviving through liver transplant, there are only a handful of healthy livers available for this procedure each year. Another treatment that has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration is the drug called Sorafenid, which, while effective, has been reported to cause severe discomfort to patients. These scenarios prompt the necessity of more viable options for a large number of liver cancer patients.

Leading this effort are the researchers in the Hematology and Oncology Division of the Department of Medicine in UAB. The team has developed “radio frequency electromagnetic field generator,” a spoon-like battery-operated apparatus that emits minute levels of electromagnetic fields. Once placed in the mouth of a patient, a button is pushed to start the treatment program, sending safe, amplitude-modulated amounts of radio frequency to the body. These tumor-specific frequencies target cancer cells in the body, blocking their growth while not affecting that of the surrounding normal cells.

In the report published in the online British Journal of Cancer last August 2011¸ it was noted that majority of the patients experienced either reduced or complete loss of pain.

Another promising aspect is that the treatment was evinced to not only minimize the development of the primary cancer, but also prevent its spread to other organs in the body.

This technology will be particularly beneficial to patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a liver disease that does not respond favorably to chemotherapy.  Researchers are enthusiastic of the FDA’s approval of the device, and its application to other forms of cancer.

-Toni Bacala

 

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