Interventional Oncology

Interventional oncology uses advanced image-guided technology to perform minimally invasive procedures that directly treat cancers affecting the liver, kidney lung and bone. Interventional Oncology has become one of the newest and fast-growing options for cancer treatment.

Interventional oncology procedures can be used for local or regional cancer therapy . Local therapies involve placing a needle or probe directly into the tumor to freeze or heat the tumor guided by cutting-edge imaging techniques. This local therapy can be performed throughtout the body most frequently in the lung, liver, bone, kidney, and adrenal gland.

Regional therapies involve injecting a substance through a catheter in the hepatic artery into a whole lobe of the liver to treat multiple tumors. These substances include radioactive particles and/or chemotherapy particles which have been proven to improve survival rate in many types of tumors compared to chemotherapy alone.

Various interventional oncology procedures are as follows:

• Radio frequency ablation (RFA):  RFA causes localized destruction of tumors via radio frequency waves or heating.
• Cryoablation causes localized destruction of tumors through freezing of the tissues.
• Chemo-Embolization delivers chemotherapy directly to the tumor through its blood supply with the aid of image guidance.
• Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) targets malignant tumors in the liver directly via its blood supply by employing particles coated with a radiation source. This is also done with the aid of imaging techniques.

Most patients can go home on the same day although some procedures require an overnight stay in the hospital for monitoring.

While pain is a recognised side effect this is treated with special pain medications and the procedure is well tolerated by patient.

Interventional oncology can provide an alternative method to surgical treatment of many cancerous conditions and can result in faster recovery with less hospitalization.