A new approach to the treatment of painful benign bone tumors and bone metastases

  Recently, after being the first in China to apply magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) for the treatment of uterine fibroids, the first case of MRgFUS for metastatic bone tumors in China was successfully performed at Shanghai First People’s Hospital. The first case was a 32-year-old patient with iliac bone metastasis from adenoid soft tissue sarcoma, a pathological type of tumor that is insensitive to radiotherapy and chemotherapy. Dr. Wang Hum of the Department of Radiology and Dr. Hua Yingqi of the Department of Orthopedics confirmed the patient’s suitability for this treatment after a comprehensive clinical and imaging evaluation. Dr. Shen Jiakang of the Department of Orthopedics completed the preoperative examination and preparation of the patient. On July 16, 2014, Dr. Wang Hum and Dr. Tang Na performed the non-invasive treatment for this patient. The surgery started at 17:30 pm and lasted for about 1.5 hours and was completed in the MRgFUS operating room of the Department of Radiology . During the operation, Dr. Wang Hum ablated the metastatic bone tumor by controlling the excitation of focused ultrasound pulses, and the temperature of the target site reached 65-100 degrees Celsius with real-time temperature monitoring, completely “burning” the local tumor cells. The patient had no obvious discomfort during the whole procedure, and the safety and effectiveness of the procedure were ensured by real-time cardiac monitoring, magnetic resonance imaging and in vivo multi-point temperature measurement. On July 17, the team successfully performed non-invasive treatment on another patient with bone metastases from lung cancer.  Bone is one of the three most common sites of cancer metastasis, and more than 50% of cancer patients will develop bone metastasis, especially in patients with lung, breast, and prostate cancers. According to statistics, the incidence of bone metastases is 35-40 times higher than that of primary malignant tumors of bone, which shows how harmful it is. And cancer bone metastasis is also one of the most important causes of cancer pain, which often seriously affects the survival quality of cancer patients, accelerates the development of the disease, and even causes pathological fracture. Although the medical profession has not yet found an effective method to cure metastatic bone tumors, with the update of medical concept and social medical model, it should be recognized that the occurrence of bone metastasis is not always the terminal stage of cancer patients, and proper treatment has definite efficacy in reducing pain, improving the quality of survival, and even in prolonging the survival period. Patients with metastatic bone tumors often have their quality of life severely affected by severe pain.