- The interventional oncologists
work specifically with tumors.
We do minimally invasive procedures,
guided by imaging such as fluoroscopy
which is real time x-rays.
I primarily treat primary liver cancers,
which is very common cancer worldwide
and a growing incidents
unfortunately in the United States.
The two main, procedures that, we can do
for primary liver cancer are local ablation,
which most commonly is the delivery of heat
by placing a needle within the tumor and chemoembolization,
and chemoembolization tend to be used for larger tumors,
that it is difficult to totally destroy
with a delivery of heat within.
(upbeat music)
Chemoembolization involves the placement
of a catheter through the arteries
that supply the liver with their oxygen and nutrition.
So we wanna advance our catheter
under real time X-ray guidance
into the vessel supplying the tumor,
and then deliver chemotherapy in a concentrated fashion.
The third option is to combine the two treatments.
So if you have a tumor that's just a little bit too large
for local ablation,
you know, it's gonna be hard
for that needle to generate heat
throughout the entire tumor,
but it's not overly large.
Then you can combine the two
and have a pretty effective response.
The advantage of these methods
is that they have much less effect on the rest of the body.
And also they have lesser effect
even on the surrounding Organ.
So this less collateral damage,
both to the globally, to the body.
And even within that organ that you're treating.