UT Southwestern digestive specialists freeze out esophagus cancer with new therapy

July 29, 2008
Dr. Jayaprakash Sreenarasimhaiah

Dr. Jayaprakash Sreenarasimhaiah, and other gastroenterologists at UT Southwestern are using a novel procedure to freeze damaged cells in the esophagus, preventing them from turning cancerous. Credit: UT Southwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern Medical Center gastroenterologists are using a new method to freeze damaged cells in the esophagus, preventing them from turning cancerous.

The Food and Drug Administration-approved cryoablation therapy helps Barrett's esophagus patients with dysplasia, a condition in which normal cells are transformed into potentially cancerous ones.

"Due to damage from chronic stomach acid, they are people who have a higher risk of developing esophagus cancer," said Dr. Jayaprakash Sreenarasimhaiah, assistant professor of internal medicine in the division of digestive and liver disease at UT Southwestern. "The goal of this therapy is to literally freeze the damage in its tracks and stop it before it turns to cancer."

Gastroenterologists, using a special catheter, spray liquid nitrogen on the damaged tissue to freeze the superficial lining of the esophagus, the long tube that carries food from the throat to the stomach. The treated tissue eventually falls off, allowing normal cells to grow and replace the damaged cells in about six to eight weeks.

"Repeated treatments can actually help get rid of Barrett's esophagus with dysplasia and prevent the progression to cancer," said Dr. Sreenarasimhaiah, a gastroenterologist who specializes in endoscopic technology.

The minimally invasive cryoablation therapy has recently been approved by the FDA for treating Barrett's, but it requires special training and equipment available in only a handful of centers in Texas and a few dozen nationally.

Barrett's esophagus can result from ongoing heartburn, which allows a constant splashing of acid from the stomach into the esophagus. Untreated, it can become Barrett's with dysplasia, in which cells start to transform.

Typical treatment includes endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR), in which the damaged lining is scraped away, a procedure that takes hours and can have side effects such as bleeding or narrowing of the esophagus. The most aggressive approach includes surgery to remove damaged portions of the tube.

Some patients, however, are too sick or elderly to be candidates for surgery. Others simply want another option.

"This is a disease we see in a lot of older patients with other illnesses, so the decision to send them to surgery requires careful consideration," Dr. Sreenarasimhaiah said. "Cryoablation therapy is particularly attractive for older patients who may have complications or other medical issues – such as accompanying heart or lung diseases – that make traditional surgeries for Barrett's with dysplasia too risky."

Cryoablation therapy takes about 30 to 40 minutes and requires sedation. As with an endoscopy, a tube down the patient's throat is used to insert a tiny camera and instruments. No incisions are required.

Early results from studies show the therapy – similar to that used by dermatologists to freeze off warts – works well inside the esophagus, though further study is needed, Dr. Sreenarasimhaiah said.

"Patients may feel a little pain in the first couple of days, like a heartburn-type pain, but that starts to improve after a few days and after that they usually don't feel anything," he said. "They can eat immediately after they wake. They are not on a special diet, but they do continue their anti-reflux medications."

Source: UT Southwestern Medical Center

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

E_L_Earnhardt
Jul 30, 2008

Rank: not rated yet
Excellent work! It may not be necessary to actually KILL the cells responsible. Mitosis can be SLOWED by a reduction in temperature, but the process may have to be repeated.
Rank 5 /5 (4 votes)
Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • Is Everyday Technology Killing Us?
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • Exercise and weight loss
    createdFeb 08, 2012
  • Why do we have head aches? Our brains can't feel anything.
    createdFeb 07, 2012
  • "The end of diseases" by David Agus, interview from Daily Show with Jon Stewart
    createdFeb 04, 2012
  • Oncolytic adenovirus
    createdFeb 04, 2012
  • Nutrition label stuffs and diets
    createdFeb 02, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - Medical Sciences

More news stories

Declining health-care productivity in England: Who says so?

Reports that the National Health Service in England has been declining in productivity in the last decade appear to have been accepted as fact. However, a Viewpoint published Online First by The Lancet disputes this. The Vi ...

Medicine & Health / Health

created 47 minutes ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Overeating may double risk of memory loss

New research suggests that consuming between 2,100 and 6,000 calories per day may double the risk of memory loss, or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), among people age 70 and older. The study was released today and will be ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created 2 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Starve a virus, feed a cure? Findings show how some cells protect themselves against HIV

A protein that protects some of our immune cells from the most common and virulent form of HIV works by starving the virus of the molecular building blocks that it needs to replicate, according to research published online ...

Medicine & Health / Research

created 6 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Injured boomers beware: Know when to see doctor

(AP) -- It happened to nurse Jane Byron years after an in-line skating fall, business owner Haralee Weintraub while doing "men's" push-ups, and avid cyclist Gene Wilberg while lifting a heavy box.

Medicine & Health / Health

created 7 hours ago | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0

FDA-approved drug rapidly clears amyloid from the brain, reverses Alzheimer's symptoms in mice

Neuroscientists at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have made a dramatic breakthrough in their efforts to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease. The researchers' findings, published in the journal Science, show t ...

Medicine & Health / Neuroscience

created Feb 09, 2012 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (58) | comments 15 | with audio podcast


Scientists discover molecular secrets of 2,000-year-old Chinese herbal remedy

For roughly two thousand years, Chinese herbalists have treated Malaria using a root extract, commonly known as Chang Shan, from a type of hydrangea that grows in Tibet and Nepal. More recent studies suggest that halofuginone, ...

New method to examine batteries -- MRI from the inside

There is an ever-increasing need for advanced batteries for portable electronics, such as phones, cameras, and music players, but also to power electric vehicles and to facilitate the distribution and storage of energy derived ...

A mitosis mystery solved: How chromosomes align perfectly in a dividing cell

Although the process of mitotic cell division has been studied intensely for more than 50 years, Whitehead Institute researchers have only now solved the mystery of how cells correctly align their chromosomes during symmetric ...

Lab study raises questions over nano-particle impact

Tests involving chickens have raised questions about the impact on health from engineered nano-particles, the ultra-fine grains commonly used in drugs and processed foods, scientists said on Sunday.

Google might launch Drive for cloud storage soon

(PhysOrg.com) -- Google's next big move, according to the Wall Street Journal, is a cloud storage service called Drive. Hardly first to the plate, Google is simply catching up to introducing its cloud reposi ...

Researchers find extensive RNA editing in human transcriptome

In a new study published online in Nature Biotechnology, researchers from BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, reported the evidence of extensive RNA editing in a human cell line by analysis of RNA-seq data, demons ...