Killing Tumors, Without the Pain of Chemotherapy

It’s a dreadful disease, arguably the worst there is. Very often, the diagnosis itself is a death sentence – doctors have little choice but to inform you that you have but a few months to live. Some of the lucky ones who manage to detect cancer in the early stages, and if they’re able to use chemo and other forms of treatment effectively, they live to tell the tale for a few more years. But maybe I shouldn’t be using the word “lucky” here, because chemo and surgery to remove tumors are not all they’re cracked up to me.

The truth about chemotherapy is that it’s one of the most painful curative treatments known to man. What’s worse, the drugs used to kill the cancer cells end up killing your healthy cells too since they cannot be targeted at exactly the bad cells. And this produces the side-effects that are a part and parcel of chemo – nausea, tiredness, hair loss, weakness, random illnesses, and many more. Surgery is also a dicey proposition where you may end up losing healthy nerves and blood cells when your tumor is being removed.

But if medical science has its way, all this suffering in the quest for a cure may be a thing of the past. New technology has allowed us hope for a better future where effective weapons (that are minimally invasive) can be used in the fight against cancer, some of which are:

  • The NanoKnife: Developed by a New York-based company, this device can be used to kill tumors cell by cell, which means that adjacent healthy tissue, blood vessels and nerves are spared. Clinical trials of this “knife” have generated positive results, but there is still a long way to go before it can prove its real worth. The treatment is pretty expensive, but when you’re talking about saving a life, there’s no need to raise the question of cost. The NanoKnife promises a relatively pain-free experience where electrodes shaped like needles are used to administer pulses in a technique called irreversible electroporation.
  • Cryoablation: This is an alternative procedure that is used on cancer patients who cannot or do not want to have surgery because their tumors are too close to vital organs or any other reason. Cryoablation or cryotherapy or cryosurgery uses a hollow, needle-like device filled with the inert gas Argon to freeze the tumor. The extreme cold kills the tumor without affecting other healthy tissue. Cryoablation is also used to help relieve the pain of terminal cancer patients who are counting their days.
  • Laser or Radiofrequency Ablation: This is a heat-based method that uses laser, radiofrequency and microwaves to perform thermal ablation of a tumor. It is minimally invasive and is usually done under sedation with the patient being allowed to go home the day after the procedure.
  • Nanotechnology: Probably one of the most significant discoveries of this century, nanotechnology allows us to go where no man has ever gone before. It is especially useful in the treatment of cancer where minute capsules containing the drug are sent into the blood stream and directed to the tumor using ultrasound or similar technology. The drug is then released directly onto the tumor, thus preventing healthy cells and tissue from being affected too. A more recent development is the “smart bomb”, the virus that’s being used as a drug delivery tool. It holds chemo drugs in its 17 nanometer space and has signal peptides that guide it to the tumor. Once in position, the virus gains entry into the tumor using the peptides as a key, and then releases the drug.

As you can see, there is hope on the horizon if you’ve been diagnosed with cancer, hope that does not include the pain of chemotherapy.

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