Radiofrequency Ablation Reduces Bone Cancer Pain

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) can reduce pain and improve quality of life in most patients with metastatic bone cancer, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) in Chicago, IL (USA).

Guided by computed tomography (CT) or ultrasound, RFA transmits electrical energy through a very small needle inserted through the skin directly into carefully targeted tissue around a tumor. The high-frequency currents heat and destroy a large part of the tumor. Although RFA has shown success in treating other types of cancer, this study shows it is also effective for cancer that has spread to the bone. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared RFA for treatment of bone cancer pain.

Patients with cancer spread throughout the body cannot be treated with RFA. Thus, the patients in the multicenter study had one or two painful lesions, and chemotherapy had not be palliative, leaving patients to rely on narcotic pain relievers. Of the 62 patients who took part in the study, about 50 (81%) attained a high degree of pain relief, while 28 (45%) had complete elimination of pain at some point during the six-month follow-up. Many had a minimal amount of pain even at the end of life.

"Through RFA treatment, we have been able to reduce fairly severe pain down to the point where pain is not controlling our patients' every thought. They have a good quality of life,” said Dr. Matthew R. Callstrom, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of radiology at the Mayo Clinic (Rochester, MN, USA), one of the centers participating in the study.




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