Healing Bone Pain

By Stacie Overton, Ivanhoe Health Correspondent

NEW ORLEANS (Ivanhoe Newswire) -- New research presented at the 30th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology highlights two innovative ways to relieve pain caused by bone tumors.

Researchers at the meeting say 40 percent of cancer patients will develop metastatic disease where cancer has spread to the bone. Of these, 50 percent will have poorly controlled pain. The gold standard to relieve this bone pain has been radiation therapy, but of the 70 percent of patients who experience relief with it, about half will have their pain recur within 16 weeks of treatment. Further radiation is often not an option because of potential damage to healthy tissue. Researchers say new treatment options are desperately needed.

Matthew Callstrom, M.D., Ph.D., from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., presented new data on cryoablation -- or freezing -- to relieve pain. Cryoablation kills cancerous tissue by freezing it. Radiologists guide eight probes into the tumor. Then an “ice ball” forms around the probe. It grows and destroys the frozen cancer cells. In the first prospective trial to look at how well cryoablation works for metastatic bone pain, Dr. Callstrom and colleagues studied 13 patients. All had significant pain and were between 21 and 72 years old. Fifty-four percent of patients reported total relief of pain and 85 percent reduced their average pain score (1 to 10) by at least three points. Dr. Callstrom says “It’s a safe treatment. Pain relief is significant, it’s durable, and it lasts. It is an effective treatment for pain as a result of cancer that’s spread to the bone.”

On the same topic, Anthony Ryan, M.D., from Vancouver General Hospital in Canada, presented data on osteoplasty. Osteoplasty is a technique in which doctors inject medical-grade bone cement into tumors. It’s injected as a liquid and, as it hardens, it gives off heat (70 degrees C). This is one of the reasons it’s believed to relieve pain as the intense heat cauterizes nerve endings. The cement stabilized microfractures and reinforces weak bone. It is already an established technique to treat vertebral metastases or fractures in the spine from osteoporosis. Now, radiologists are expanding its use to treat other bones in the body. In this study, researchers performed eight procedures on seven patients. Results show all patients experienced prompt and lasting relief. Also, there were no significant complications. Dr. Ryan says, “Osteoplasty is a safe and effective interventional treatment for cancer pain and gives prompt and dramatic pain relief.”

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SOURCE: Stacie Overton and research presented by Matthew Callstrom, M.D., Ph.D., and Anthony Ryan, M.D. at the 30th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Society of Interventional Radiology in New Orleans, March 31-April 5, 2005