Darmkanker: RFA - Radio Frequency Ablation bewijst waarde door verdriedubbeling van levensduur bij patiënten met darmkanker met leveruitzaaiingen.

Mei 2003: Bron: ASCO 2003

En opnieuw toont een studie aan dat R.F.A. - Radio Frequency Ablation een heleboel voordelen kan hebben. Nu een studie bij darmkankerpatiënten met leveruitzaaiingen , zelfs tot buiten de lever, die significant langer leefden met RFA, al of niet als toevoeging aan een klassieke chemobehandeling. Een verschil in overleving van alleen bij chemo van 11-14 maanden tot gemiddeld afhankelijk van grootte van tumor en mate van uitzaaiingen 28,9 maanden. Het voordeel van RFA is ook dat het een aantal keren herhaald kan worden. Zie ook verhaal van mw. N. Hieronder het persbericht van Rita Systems dat de producent is van de gebruikte RFA-apparatuur gepresenteerd op ASCO (Amerikaanse Vereniging van Klinische Oncologie die elk jaar in een groot internationaal congres bij elkaar komen). Adres van Ritasystems en contactpersoon voor nadere inlichtingen zijn bij ons voor OPS-leden verkrijgbaar.

PRESS RELEASE: RITA Med Reports Colorectal Study Results --

New Study Shows RITA Medical Systems Radiofrequency (RF) Technology Increases
Survival Rates for Patients With Colorectal Cancer That Spread to the Liver
and Beyond

'Expands the Indications' for Performing the RF Procedure; Many More Patients
Good Candidates for RITA Treatment

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., June 2 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- RITA Medical Systems,
Inc. (Nasdaq: RITA) today announced that the results of a study conducted at The
Cleveland Clinic showed that its proprietary radiofrequency (RF) ablation
technology can dramatically improve the overall survival rate for certain
patients with colorectal cancer that has spread to the liver even if a limited
amount of the disease has progressed outside the liver.
Data from the 135-patient prospective study, which was conducted to determine
which patients respond best to the RF treatment, was presented by Allan
Siperstein, M.D. of The Cleveland Clinic on June 1 at the 39th Annual Meeting of
the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) at McCormick Place in Chicago.
Other investigators included Robert Pelley, M.D., and Eren Berber, M.D., from
The Cleveland Clinic.
The study showed the patients treated with RITA RF technology lived much
longer -- often double or triple the survival rate -- than those treated with
chemotherapy alone when they are treated quickly after the initial diagnosis,
have low CEA (Carcinoembryonic Antigen -- a blood test that identifies cancer
cells) readings and if the size of the dominant tumor is less than 3 cm in
diameter. Furthermore, limited amounts of extra-heptatic (outside the liver)
disease "does not appear to adversely affect survival," Dr. Siperstein said.
"This data underscores the fact that radiofrequency ablation is an important
and positive adjunct to chemotherapy in patients with colorectal cancer that has
spread to the liver," Dr. Siperstein said. "Beyond that, because patients whose
disease had advanced outside the liver, into areas such as the lymph nodes or
lungs, also responded positively to the treatment, it expands the indications
for doing this ablation. We now believe many more patients are good candidates
for the RITA treatment."
RITA's RF ablation system enables physicians to deliver monitored and
controlled levels of RF energy into the tissue through an array of thin
electrodes that heat and effectively destroy, or ablate, the targeted tissue. In
many cases, this minimally invasive procedure can be performed with just local
anesthesia.
The median (Kaplan-Meier) survival rate of all patients in the study was 28.9
months after RF ablation treatment. Those patients who received the treatment
less than a year after their diagnosis had a median survival rate of 34 months
and those patients whose dominant tumor was less than 3 cm had a median survival
rate of 38 months. Based on historical data, survival rates for similar
patients treated with chemotherapy alone is 11-14 months.
The study included patients treated from May 1997 to November 2002 who, like
most liver cancer patients, were not appropriate candidates for surgery due
either to the extent of the disease or other underlying medical conditions. A
total of 80 percent of the patients in the study had experienced tumor
progression despite chemotherapy.
Other results of the study included:
-- Patients with a dominant lesion less than 3 cm in diameter had a median
survival of 38 months; lesions 3-5 cm had a median survival of
34 months; greater than 5 cm had a median survival of 21 months.
-- Patients with a time from diagnosis of metastatic liver cancer to RF
ablation of less than one year had a survival rate of 34 months
compared to 21 months for those who had the treatment after one year.
-- Patients with a CEA less than 200 ng/ml had improved survival of
34 months; those with a CEA greater than 200 ng/ml had a rate of
16 months.

"This data not only adds to the now substantial body of evidence demonstrating
the effectiveness of our RF ablation technology, it expands the market for our
treatment," said Don Stewart, Chief Financial Officer of RITA Medical Systems.
"We now have a better idea of which patients will respond best to the
technology, which is important information for a physician making a
recommendation to a patient, and to those patients suffering from an often
deadly disease."

Radio Frequency Ablation, RFA, levertumoren, darmkanker