Chinese Journal of Lung Cancer (May 2009)
Cryosurgery Combined with Radioactive Seeds and Release-controlled Chemical Drugs Implantation for the Treatment of Lung Carcinoma
Abstract
Background and objective It is very difficult for cryosurgery to ablate all tumors because of its large volume and irregular shape. It is a complementary method for chemo-radioactive concurrent therapy to treat tumor remains. The aim of this study is to evaluate the application, security and effectiveness of Argon-Helium cryosurgery combined with radioactive seeds/release-controlled drugs implantation for percutaneous treatment of pulmonary neoplasma by CT guidance. Methods Lung cryosurgery and radioactive seeds and release-controlled drugs implantation were sequentially performed in 20 cases with 16 primary lung cancer and 4 secondary lung cancer. Side effects were observed during cryosurgery and seeds implantation. Results (3.4±0.2) cryoprobes were inserted into a nodule which is average (5.8±0.5) cm in diameter in 20 cases with 21 tumors. 85.6%±2.4% of tumor size had been ablated for each procedure. Haemoptysis occurred in 80% patients after cryosurgery, and disappeared in a week. Pneumothroax happened in 15% patients and recovered in a short time without special treatment. Absorption fever occurred in 20% patients and returned to normal in a week. (23.4±1.4) radioactive seeds and (8.3±1.2) drug-released drugs were percutaneously inserted into the 21 remaining tumors in a week after cryosurgery and 4 tumors (<2 cm in diameter) without cryosurgery. There were no severe side effects directly related to the procedures except 3 had slight nausea. The medium survive time was 16 months and average survive time was (14.0±2.6) months. More than 60% of patients survived more than 1 year. Conclusion Cryosurgery is a rapid modality for the debulking of pulmoanry tumor and concurrent therapy of radioactive seeds and release-controlled drugs implantation could effectively treat the remaining tumor. It is a rapid and effective method for thetreatment of advanced stage lung cancer.
