Mayo physicians use novel MRI-guided ablation technique
Mayo Clinic has employed MRI-guided laser ablation to successfully treat five patients with kidney and liver tumors.
“Laser ablation offers us a way to precisely target and kill tumors without harming the rest of an organ. We believe there are a lot of potential uses of this technique — which is quite exciting,” according to Eric M. Walser, MD, an interventional radiologist from Jacksonville, Fla.-based Mayo Clinic, who helped develop the technique.
MRI-guided laser ablation—which has been in use since June—is in the developmental stage, and can be beneficial against most tumors, either primary or metastatic, as long as there are only a few in an organ and each is less than five centimeters in size or two inches in diameter, said the researchers.
Additionally, David A. Woodrum, MD, PhD, from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues have used the technique to treat recurrent prostate tumors. Seven patients with prostate cancer have been treated, including four patients who had failed surgery and a patient with melanoma whose cancer had spread to his liver, reported the clinic.
Mayo Clinic also noted that the technique is more precise than similar methods, such as radiofrequency ablation and cryotherapy.
MRI-guided laser ablation is administered inside an MRI scanner and is not suitable for patients with pacemakers or certain metallic implants. The technique was cleared by the FDA for the treatment of soft tissue tumors in the U.S. in October 2009.
Currently, the technique is most commonly utilized for brain, spine and prostate tumors in the U.S., noted Mayo Clinic.
“Laser ablation offers us a way to precisely target and kill tumors without harming the rest of an organ. We believe there are a lot of potential uses of this technique — which is quite exciting,” according to Eric M. Walser, MD, an interventional radiologist from Jacksonville, Fla.-based Mayo Clinic, who helped develop the technique.
MRI-guided laser ablation—which has been in use since June—is in the developmental stage, and can be beneficial against most tumors, either primary or metastatic, as long as there are only a few in an organ and each is less than five centimeters in size or two inches in diameter, said the researchers.
Additionally, David A. Woodrum, MD, PhD, from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and colleagues have used the technique to treat recurrent prostate tumors. Seven patients with prostate cancer have been treated, including four patients who had failed surgery and a patient with melanoma whose cancer had spread to his liver, reported the clinic.
Mayo Clinic also noted that the technique is more precise than similar methods, such as radiofrequency ablation and cryotherapy.
MRI-guided laser ablation is administered inside an MRI scanner and is not suitable for patients with pacemakers or certain metallic implants. The technique was cleared by the FDA for the treatment of soft tissue tumors in the U.S. in October 2009.
Currently, the technique is most commonly utilized for brain, spine and prostate tumors in the U.S., noted Mayo Clinic.