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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

LIVER CANCER WITH ICE

ALHAMBRA HOSPITAL FIGHTS LIVER CANCER WITH ICE A Southern California hospital is saving lives with ice. Marking an innovative approach towards treatment for liver cancer, positive early data has been unveiled for targeted cryoablation technology, designed to treat the disease. The data, published in the medical journal, Cancer, concludes that “cryosurgery is promising in the treatment of liver cancer, with the ability to prolong patient survival.” “Utilizing unique ‘freezing’ and temperature monitoring technology developed by Irvine-based Endocare, we are able to apply extremely cold temperatures to targeted cancerous tissue until it has been broken down and no longer exists,” said Wilson Wong, M.D., a Radiologist based at Southern California’s Alhambra Hospital and one of the authors of the Cancer journal article. “We are very encouraged by early data. Results show that targeted cryoablation can be effective in patients where surgical resection is not an effective option. In the treatment of liver cancer, targeted ablation enables us to rid the liver of more cancerous tissue while the technology’s precise targeting element allows us to spare the sections of the liver that are not cancerous.” Wong and his colleagues at Alhambra Hospital are so pleased with the success of the procedure they have launched the Cryosurgical Center of Southern California, based at the Hospital in Alhambra. Because it is one of the most malignant forms of cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (liver cancer) is a disease that has traditionally been very difficult to treat. The reported incidence is 3 per 100,000 per year in the United States, rising to 30 per 100,000 internationally. Patients suffering from the disease generally have a poor prognosis. Targeted cryoablation is particularly groundbreaking because cancerous tumors of the liver usually cannot be removed surgically. The targeted cryoablation surgical procedures used in treating liver cancer are the latest in a growing series of temperature-based technologies utilized at Alhambra Hospital, including similar targeted cryoablation procedures that have exhibited success in treating prostate cancer. The Cryosurgical Center of Southern California is located at Alhambra Hospital, they can be reached by calling 818-458-4787.

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