Targeted interventional therapy

Many people are often diagnosed with tumors or white blood cell problems during physical examinations. At this time, the first reaction is that they need chemotherapy, which is very painful and requires surgery. The already sick body combined with these external invasions will put people in a very weak state. In order to avoid the pain of chemotherapy, targeted interventional therapy has emerged to eliminate this problem. What is the treatment method?

Targeted therapy is a treatment method that targets an identified carcinogenic site at the cellular and molecular level (the site can be a protein molecule inside the tumor cell or a gene fragment).

Corresponding therapeutic drugs can be designed. When the drugs enter the body, they will specifically select carcinogenic sites to combine and act, causing the specific death of tumor cells without affecting the normal tissue cells around the tumor. Therefore, molecular targeted therapy is also called "biological missile".

Treatment

1. CryocareTM targeted cryoablation therapy (also known as argon-helium knife)

Argon-helium cryoablation is an ablation treatment technology with a wide range of indications. Since 1998, more than 100 hospitals in the United States and more than 80 institutions in China have been equipped with argon-helium cryoablation equipment, which can perform precise cryosurgery on a variety of tumors and has made breakthrough progress in the treatment of liver cancer, lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer, kidney tumors, breast cancer and other fields.

Cryosurgery is suitable for almost all solid tumors. Unlike other ablation methods such as radiofrequency, argon-helium cryosurgery can treat not only small tumors, but also larger tumors (greater than 5 cm in diameter) and larger in number. Due to the heat release effect of blood flow in blood vessels, cryosurgery is not easy to cause damage to large blood vessels, so it can also treat tumors near large blood vessels that cannot be surgically removed.

According to statistics from the 14th World Cryosurgery Congress in November 2007, the number of tumor cases treated with the American CryocareTM argon-helium cryotherapy in China has reached 11,000, of which more than 10 units have completed more than 500 cases, and some hospitals have performed 4,000 cases for more than 30 types of diseases. China is the country with the largest number of liver cancer and lung cancer treatments in the world.

Due to the different characteristics of various targeted ablation techniques, the treatment technique selected for specific cases may vary. Dr. Zhang Keqin[4] conducted a comparative study on the treatment of rabbit VX2 liver cancer with cryoablation by argon-helium knife and radiofrequency (RFA) and microwave (MCT) thermal coagulation. In the treatment of rabbit VX2 liver cancer with these three minimally invasive treatments, argon-helium knife cryoablation was superior to RFA and MCT in terms of the ablation target area and transverse diameter, the complete ablation rate of the tumor in the ablation target area, the residual rate of tumor cells in the ablation target area, and the complete necrosis rate of tumor cells in the ablation target area. The effects of RFA and MCT were comparable.

In addition, the tumor implantation and dissemination caused by the "boiling effect" of RFA and MCT is a problem that cannot be overcome clinically. All these aspects suggest that the clinical efficacy of argon-helium cryotherapy in the treatment of rabbit VX2 liver cancer may be better than RFA and MCT.

Clinical treatment has confirmed that the combination of local ablation with argon-helium knife and comprehensive treatment such as radiotherapy, chemotherapy, biological therapy, and interventional therapy is more effective than single treatment, and the 1-2 year survival rate is significantly improved. Its long-term efficacy depends on the choice of comprehensive treatment measures.

When the tumor is ≥4cm, especially larger than 6cm, the treatment effect is poor and the tumor is prone to recurrence or even enlargement. Therefore, the application of comprehensive treatment measures combined with other treatment methods before and after treatment is particularly important. For example, for the treatment of lung cancer: argon-helium knife combined with interventional chemotherapy, combined with radiotherapy, and combined with traditional Chinese medicine treatment, compared with simple radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and interventional embolization, the 1-year and 2-year survival rates have been significantly improved, and a relatively satisfactory clinical effect has been achieved. The above results show that argon-helium knife will become an essential technology for the clinical treatment of lung cancer.

For tumors close to the mediastinum, it is difficult to completely ablate them with local argon-helium cryotherapy. Other local treatment methods can be combined with argon-helium cryotherapy. Combining it with radiotherapy can greatly reduce the radiation dose. Combining drug implantation with radioactive particle implantation can improve the efficacy and reduce the dose of implanted particles. Effective combination with other local treatments and systemic treatment techniques can change the current concept of comprehensive treatment and improve long-term treatment effects. At present, argon-helium cryotherapy is in its infancy in China, but there is a lack of prospective, multicenter, randomized controlled clinical trial results to observe its long-term efficacy in the treatment of lung cancer.