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"As modern oncology treatments have helped patients live longer withtheir disease, growing numbers of patients are living with the side effectsof late-stage cancer, including bone pain," said Andre A. Konski, MD, MBA,MA, Director of Radiation Oncology Clinical Research and Chief MedicalOfficer at Fox Chase Cancer Center. "As physicians, our goal is not only totreat disease, but to help improve the quality of our patients' lives. Welook forward to enrolling additional patients into this study in hopes ofshowing that this treatment may provide safe and effective pain relief forthis condition. We encourage patients with bone metastases and their familiesto gather information on palliative treatments, including clinical trialssuch as this one, and discuss their options with their physicians."
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Bone pain is the most common source of pain in patients suffering frommetastatic cancer. Almost all patients with metastatic prostate cancer haveskeletal metastases and 90% of patients with progressive breast cancerdevelop these painful and debilitating lesions.
Current pain treatments consist of systemic therapy (analgesics,chemotherapy, hormonal therapy and bisphosphonates) and local treatments(radiation, surgery and more recently, Radio Frequency Ablation (RFA)).
With ExAblate(R), the physician uses the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)with registered CT images to visualize the patient's anatomy and then aimsfocused ultrasound waves at the tumor to relieve the pain. The MRI allows thephysician to monitor and continuously adjust the treatment in real time. Thepatient is consciously sedated to alleviate pain and minimize motion. Due tothe high acoustic absorption and low thermal conductivity of the bone cortex,it is possible to use a low level of energy and still achieve a localizedheating effect that will relieve the pain while minimizing damage to adjacenttissue.
Participating sites include Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, FoxChase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, Houston Methodist in Houston, Texas,SightLine Medical Center, Houston, Texas, the Lahey Clinic in Burlington,Mass., the University of California, Los Angeles Medical Center in LosAngeles, Calif., the University of California, San Diego Medical Center inSan Diego, Calif., Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, UniversityHealth Network in Toronto, and Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer, Israel.
Additional information on the trial, including contact information forthe clinical coordinators at each of the sites, can also be viewed at theNational Institutes of Health's website,http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00656305?term=bone+metastases+insightec&rank=1.
(Due to the length of this URL, it may be necessary to copy and pastethis hyperlink into your Internet browser's URL address field. Remove thespace if one exists.)Media Contact: Hollister Hovey Lazar Partners Ltd. [email protected] +1-212-867-1762
SOURCE InSightec Ltd
