(by Nicola Simonetti) Electrochemotherapy, the latest less invasive technique created to remove tumors, adding interventional oncology (recent radiological discipline), imaging technique and chemotherapy.
"More precise, more effective, less invasive", the novelty made, for the first time, two months ago (now made known), in France, at the Tenon hospital (AP-HP, Paris), on a patient suffering from cancer kidney with liver metastases, insensitive to the treatments performed. The results, after 2 months, are satisfactory. "Sciences et Avenir" of February 7 reports.
It was - says dr. François Cornelis Pr, interventionist radiologist. - to introduce the chemotherapy into the same tumor cell using long needles which, guided by the images on the screen, are introduced into the tumor and, thanks to electrical impulses lasting a few microseconds, forces the tumor cells to open their pores ( electroporation) to allow him to pour in the chemotherapy (bleomycin, an antibiotic of glycopeptides, with specific indication against some cancers, "little used due to its inability to penetrate cells").
Electrochemotherapy overcomes the drawbacks of other interventional oncology techniques (cryotherapy with 70 degrees below zero, thermotherapy with use of radiofrequencies or microwaves).
It - says Cornelis - can theoretically be practiced against all cancers and all patients, even those fragile, which do not respond to treatments in progress ... minimally invasive technique that can also be performed in a dedicated clinic ".