Organ Cancer Treated Outside the Body!

For the first time cancer has been treated by removing an organ from the body giving that organ radiotherapy then re-implanting it. This operation allows doctors to admit higher doses of radiation to widespread tumors without affecting other organs. Doctors in Italy performed this twenty one hour surgery on a forty eight year old man's liver. One year after the surgery this man is alive and well and recent scans revealed no signs of tumors. This technique can be used to tackle hard to treat cancers in organs that can be transplanted, such as the lungs or pancreas.

The patient that was treated so far using this method initially only had a colon tumor removed but the cancer spread to his liver. Scans revealed fourteen tumors and many smaller ones were found during the operation. Diffuse cancers can be difficult to treat using conventional means. The tumors were resistant to chemotherapy. There was little hope of killing the widespread growth with radiotherapy without destroying the liver. The method of removing the organ and treating it outside the body is called the boron neutron capture therapy. During the surgery the liver is removed and the patient is put on life support. The liver needs to be place in a Teflon bag so that neutron will be able to pass through.

Boron atoms are attached to the amino acid phenylalanine and injected into the organ. Because tumors are growing quickly they take up more of the compound then the normal cell. Two to four hours after the boron is injected the organ is brought to a research reactor were neutrons blast the boron into high energy particles that only kill the cancerous cells. This method needs to be done outside the body because bones can block the neutron beam and the tissues surrounding the organ receive a large dose of radiation and those tissues are usually destroyed. After the surgery the liver was re-implanted just like a normal liver transplant. This technique was very successful but with only one patient it might be too early to judge how safe and effective it is.

In order to receive this operation today you would need to travel to Australia, Italy, and Russia because these are the only countries with suitable reactors capable of producing suitable neutron beams. The work could also improve normal boron neutron capture therapy. By improving our knowledge of the therapy it becomes safer and easier. This method is currently being tested on patients with untreatable brain tumors. These people donated there bodies to science.