Tumors can be treated better thanks to new surgical techniques
Theo Ruers (60) is an oncological surgeon at the Antoni van Leeuwenhoek (AVL) in Amsterdam. He specializes in operating tumors in the liver and intestines. He is also professor of oncology and biomedical imaging at the University of Twente.
Detect tumors better with a tom tom in the operating room
Theo Ruers: “A tumor often looks like a hard marble in a sponge: easy to see in the body. In a quarter of the cases, a tumor looks like a sponge inside a sponge. You can see it on an MRI scan, but during surgery such a hidden tumor is often very difficult to find. Now we can create a roadmap of the patient’s body using the technology of a tom-tom. With a special plate on the operating table, we see all tissues, blood vessels, nerves and the tumor appear as a map. We can then remove the tumor with an accuracy of 2 to 3 millimeters.
We perform these operations on people where the surgeon always said: ‘We will never find this tumor in the operating room.’ We can now operate on 90 percent of these patients.”
Advantage for the patient: hidden tumors can now be found.
Smart pen finds cancer in ten seconds
Theo Ruers: “The difficult thing about removing a tumor is estimating its size. As a result, surgeons often remove an unnecessary amount of healthy tissue, because otherwise the risk of the cancer coming back is too great. A smart pen has been made in America that analyzes the tissue for the presence of cancer cells within ten seconds. In this way you can precisely determine the border of the tumor. This technique has only been tested on mice. It will certainly be a few years before we can use such a pen in humans.”
Advantage for the patient: neither too much nor too little tissue is removed.
Saving organs by burning away or irradiating
Theo Ruers: “Until recently, some people with tumors in the liver could not receive surgical treatment. Compare it again with the sponge and the marbles: if there are six large marbles in a sponge and you cut them all away, then there is almost nothing left of the sponge – the liver. Now, for example, we can burn away three of the six marbles and cut the rest so that the organ continues to function. Burning away is not an alternative to cutting away, but it does prolong life. A quarter of patients are still alive after eight years, which was not the case in the past. Another thing: we no longer always have to operate with rectal tumors. We have found that radiation and chemotherapy completely eliminate the tumor in 15 to 20 percent of patients.”
Benefit for the patient: live longer or need fewer operations.
Tip from Theo Ruers
“Make sure you get enough exercise and participate in a cancer screening program if you are invited.”
Sources):
- Plus Magazine
