Freezing tumor cells is promising for patients with recurrent thyroid cancer. Doctors at Maastricht UMC+ have successfully applied the treatment method to the first Dutch patients.
For patients whose thyroid cancer recurs, freezing is a promising method that does not require invasive surgery. After treatment, the tumor shrank by at least a quarter or even disappeared, reports the Maastricht hospital.
It concerns cryoablation. In this procedure, the tumor is frozen into a kind of ice ball using a thin needle. The freezing destroys the cancer cells. Diseased tissue is also treated precisely. So it is an operation without the need for cutting.
The choice for cryoablation is made when operating again is complicated. This can be due to, for example, scar tissue or if the tumor is close to the trachea or nerves.
The first results are encouraging, says Maastricht UMC+. In the first patient, the tumor was small, making it difficult to find during surgery between the scar tissue. The second patient opted for the treatment because previous procedures had caused damage to the vocal cords.
In the first patient, the tumor had disappeared completely. In the second, only a quarter remained, research shows.
More research needed
Whether the treatment, which has been used for lung and kidney cancer for some time, works better than surgery is not yet known. Therefore, cryoablation is currently only used on patients for whom surgery is not an option.
With the new method, it is more difficult to be certain whether all cancer cells have been removed, the hospital emphasizes. But the treatment is easy to follow with an echo. In addition, the freezing can be repeated if necessary.
Maastricht UMC+ is positive about the use of cryoablation. But the hospital emphasizes that more research is needed before the treatment can be used widely.