Global Health Asia-Pacific July 2020 July 2020 | Page 30
Cancer News
Augmented reality helps treat liver cancer
The approach helps doctors navigate internal structures and locate tumour cells
Atechnology that creates three-dimensional images
of patients’ body tissues has proved useful in
pinpointing tumour cells for targeted treatment,
according to a study presented at the Society of
Interventional Radiology’s 2020 Annual �cientific
Meeting.
Drawing on information provided by standard twodimensional
imaging systems, the augmented reality
system can project holograms of the patients anatomy
on their bodies while doctors perform a procedure called
percutaneous thermal ablation that burns liver tumours
by inserting a probe that releases electromagnetic
waves.
“Converting traditional two-dimensional imaging into
three-dimensional holograms which we can then utilize
for guidance using augmented reality helps us to better
view a patient’s internal structures as we navigate our
way to the point of treatment.
“While conventional imaging, like ultrasound and CT,
is safe, effective, and remains the gold-standard of care,
augmented reality potentially improves the visualisation
of the tumour and surrounding structures, increasing
the speed of localisation and improving the treatingphysician’s
confidence,� said Dr �aurav �adodia, lead
author of the study and radiology resident at Cleveland
Clinic, in a press release.
The study involved five patients whose liver tumours
were successfully destroyed, with none having a tumour
recurrence in a follow-up conducted after three months.
To obtain more data, clinicians are enrolling new patients
in the study.
Aside from being a therapeutic intervention, the
technology could prove useful in helping patients better
understand their problems and how treatments work.
“This technique can be used intra-procedurally to
check the accuracy and quality of the treatment, as well
as pre-procedurally to engage with the patient in their
own care,” said Dr Charles Martin, an interventional
radiologist at Cleveland Clinic and senior author of
the study, in the press release. “We can change 2D
images into holograms of a patient’s distinct anatomy
so that both the physician and the patient get a better
understanding of the tumour and treatment.”
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease raises risk of lung cancer
New data on non-smokers could lead to new guidelines for lung cancer screening
Chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease (COPD) increases the
risk of developing lung cancer in nonsmokers,
says a new study in the journal
Thorax, suggesting that this subset of
patients might benefit from early cancer
screening.
An umbrella term for a variety
of respiratory problems, including
bronchitis and emphysema, COPD is
often associated with smoking, which in
turn is a major risk factor for lung cancer,
but in about 39 percent of cases people
who develop COPD have never smoked.
In order to investigate the effects
of COPD on lung cancer, the authors
checked the health of 338,548 men and
women in Korea with no history of lung
cancer for an average of seven years and
found that non-smokers with COPD have
the same cancer risk as smokers without
the condition.
“Given that poor lung function in
COPD is often a barrier to optimal
cancer treatment due to increased risk of
treatment related morbidities, our study
suggests that early detection of lung
cancer in COPD patients may reduce
the risk of treatment complications,” the
authors of the study wrote.
“Further studies should evaluate
whether COPD patients are candidates
for lung cancer screening, irrespective of
smoking status,” they recommended.
28 JULY 2020 GlobalHealthAndTravel.com