A surgical procedure that literally freezes cancer in its tracks is giving hope to patients who have not been helped by traditional therapy. Cryosurgery, already in use for prostate cancer, has only recently been used to treat liver tumors. Emory University Hospital is one of the few medical centers in the country offering the treatment, which is seen as the only viable option for many patients whose cancers have spread to their livers. When the chemotherapy did not destroy the tumors, Morris was referred to Emory surgical oncologist Charles Staley. There simply would not be enough liver tissue left to function adequately.
Cryosurgery involves much less removal of the normal liver than traditional surgery.
Resection, or surgical removal, is the traditional treatment for tumors in the liver. However resection may not be an option for patients who have damaged livers or multiple metastatic tumors. Staley says of the more than 30,000 people each year who are diagnosed with cancer which has spread to the liver, only a few thousand can be helped with traditional resection surgery. Those 25,000 who do not qualify for resection can be treated with intravenous chemotherapy, but only 15 percent can expect that treatment to help. Previously, for the patients who did not respond to chemotherapy, like Elizabeth Morris, there were no further proven treatment options.