FWD:Easing Spinal Tumor Pain

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From: byrd45 (Original Message) Sent: 4/24/2007 12:53 PM
Click here for a print-friendly version Reported April 4, 2007
Easing Spinal Tumor Pain
SAN DIEGO (Ivanhoe Broadcast News) -- Richard Eby doesn't let much slow him down. He rollerblades today, but not long ago, Eby was in a wheelchair! He had cancer that spread and caused painful fractures.

"I couldn't stand up straight, because, as I did, it was so painful that I would have to bend over and then my center of gravity was all messed up," Eby says.

The retired pilot lost seven inches of height. "I was 5' 8" before this thing started, and now I am about 5' 1" inches tall."

About 1 million Americans will suffer a spinal fracture this year. Many of them happen because of cancer that spreads to the spine. The tumors cause bones to weaken and break.

Until now, there was no good way to relieve the pain these fractures cause. Doctors typically waited for spine fractures to heal on their own because repairing the spine is risky.

"The pain would be taken away, but they could end up paralyzed as a result of that," Wade Wong, D.O., F.A.C.R., an interventional neuro-radiologist at University of California, San Diego, tells Ivanhoe.

Now, a new procedure removes the tumor and heals the fracture. First, doctors use a special probe to destroy the tumor. An image guidance system allows them to place it in the exact spot.

Dr. Wong says, "It's almost like using Luke Skywalker's light saber because whatever we touch literally turns into carbon dioxide and nitrogen." Then, they fill the part of the spine that's fractured with cement to relieve pain.

Dr. Wong says it's very common for tumors to spread to the spine in breast, colon, lung, and melanoma cancers. The new procedure can be used on tumors that start in the spine as well, but those are less common.

All of the first 40 patients who had the procedure reported dramatic pain relief with no complications.

"What we've done here is gone beyond saving lives," Dr. Wong says. "We've actually affected someone's lifestyle."

Eby was back to rollerblading less than a week after. In fact, he skated in a 26-mile marathon! "I just felt so much more like my old self and a real person," he says.

This article was reported by Ivanhoe.com, which offers Medical Alerts by e-mail every day of the week. To subscribe, click on: http://www.ivanhoe.com/newsalert/.