In the news – article excerpt:

Mayo Clinic Finds Early Success with Laser That (Ablates) Tumors with Heat

Thursday, October 14, 2010

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Physicians at Mayo Clinic’s Florida campus are among the first in the nation to use a technique known as MRI-guided laser ablation to heat up and destroy kidney and liver tumors … the physicians say (it) is potentially beneficial against most tumors in the body — either primary or metastatic — as long as there are only a few in an organ and they are each less than 5 centimeters in size (about 2 inches in diameter). Patients also cannot have a pacemaker or certain metallic implants, since the procedure is done inside an MRI machine.

“We believe there are a lot of potential uses of this technique — which is quite exciting,” says Eric Walser, M.D., an interventional radiologist… at Mayo Clinic, Florida.

In the United States, laser ablation is primarily used (in) brain, spine and prostate tumors, but is cleared by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for any soft tissue.

…many of whom (patients) are on a liver transplant waiting list. The clinic is a large liver transplant center, and a number of patients with cirrhosis have small tumors in their liver. “We (ablated) the tumors to keep them at bay because we could not use chemotherapy in these patients, who are quite ill and are waiting for a new liver,” he says. He also adapted it for use in (ablating) kidney tumors.

The outpatient procedure is performed inside an MRI machine, which can… monitor temperature inside tumors. A special nonmetal needle is inserted directly into a tumor, and the laser is turned on to deliver light energy. Physicians can watch the temperature gradient as it rises, and they can see (it) in the organ where the heat is. When the tumor and a bit of tissue that surrounds it (which may harbor cancer cells) is heated to the point of destruction — which can be… seen on monitors — the laser is turned off. In larger tumors, several needles (can be) … inserted simultaneously.

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