Expert Cancer Treatments

A tumor cannot grow without a blood or nutrient supply. It is believed that a tumor mass cannot exist in a volume greater than the tip of a ballpoint pen without a proper blood or nutrient supply.

An Embolization procedure is a process of inserting a thin tube , the diameter size of a spaghetti noodle, called a catheter, into the artery to discover the blood vessels feeding the tumor. Then a small amount of chemotherapy or immunotherapy drug is dispensed directly into blood vessels feeding the tumor. This is followed by placing small blocking particles into those blood vessels, closing off the blood supply. Finally, platinum coils are inserted to lock the door.

This procedure can be performed multiple times to achieve the desired response within the tumor. The goal is to create a chronic dormant state and to shrink the tumor.

Two to three weeks after Embolization, the second step, Cryoablation occurs.

What can live at 40° below zero? Cryoablation is a process where small probes are placed directly into the tumor using imaging guidance. Argon gas, which is lethal to cancer, is administered through the probes, super freezing the tumor and destroying the cancer cells. Cryoablation is an outpatient procedure which is life saving. The other benefits is it is a repeatable process.

Eight to 10 minutes after Cryoablation, when the tumor is thawing to a slushy state, Immunotherapy is administered.

Thermal Ablation: Destroys tumors using either heat or cold. Small probes are placed directly into the tumor using either CT, MRI or ultrasound guidance. There are different types of heat ablation such as laser, radio-frequency and microwave therapy which super heats the tumor. Cryoablation freezes the tumor. Sometimes we will use a combined method. It is better and safer to ablate tumors when they are small. Therefore; sometimes we will starve the tumor with embolization first in order to shrink the tumor then it is safe to perform thermal ablation when the tumor is smaller.

Immunotherapy is a type of cancer treatment that boosts the body’s natural defences to fight cancer. It uses substances made by the body and/or in a laboratory to improve or restore immune system function.

An ablated tissue attracts and simulates the body’s immune system cells. A local injection of the immunotherapy drugs such as Keytruda or Opdivo in small doses, reacts with these cells and this combination can result in an effective anti-cancer immune response.

Immunotherapy drugs stimulates the immune system’s T cells to fight the cancer. Opdivo allows the activated immune T cells to recognize and destroy remaining tumor cells. This personalized vaccine treatment teaches the immune cells to fight the cancer right into the local tumor environment. Once trained, these immune cells can then go and attack cancer elsewhere in the body.