What is interventional therapy? Interventional therapy is a minimally invasive medical method of diagnosing or treating diseases under the guidance of medical imaging equipment (X-ray, CT, ultrasound, MRI), using puncture needles, catheters, guidewires, stents and other interventional devices, integrating advanced medical imaging technology, drug therapy, biological and genetic technology and high technology (such as freezing, microwave, radiofrequency ablation, chemical ablation, etc.). The emergence of interventional therapy has given new hope to many patients who could not be treated by surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy. How does interventional therapy achieve the maximum therapeutic effect on tumor patients through minimal trauma? 1. “Irrigation” – local high concentration chemotherapeutic drugs to kill tumors The “irrigation” in interventional therapy is guided by imaging equipment, and the physician inserts a catheter from outside the patient’s body to the tumor’s nutritional tract. The “irrigation” in interventional therapy is to insert a catheter into the nutritive artery of the tumor and infuse chemotherapeutic drugs equal to or less than the intravenous dose into the tumor lesion, so that the tumor can receive high concentration of chemotherapeutic drugs locally, prolong the contact time between the drugs and the tumor, and achieve the effect of killing the tumor cells or inhibiting their growth through the impact of high concentration of chemotherapeutic drugs, and at the same time, reduce the toxic effect of chemotherapeutic drugs on the tissue cells in other parts of the body. The effect of chemotherapy drugs on other parts of the body is reduced. The growth of tumor depends on the nutrients and oxygen provided by the blood supply vessels. Once the blood vessels are blocked, the tumor will be deprived of nutrition and oxygen supply and will die. The magic weapon of interventional therapy for tumor – “blocking” refers to inserting the catheter into the nutritive artery of the tumor and then injecting embolic agent (iodine oil, gelatin sponge, etc.) through the catheter to embolize the artery that feeds the tumor, so as to cut off the nutritive source of tumor growth. This method is carried out simultaneously with infusion chemotherapy, and the synergistic effect of both can inactivate the tumor and make the tumor “starve to death” without nutrition supply. “Plugging” can also be combined with surgery. For larger tumors, embolization can block the blood supply of tumor arteries to reduce intraoperative bleeding and pave the way for surgical resection; and make the tumor shrink, which can help improve the surgical resection rate. 3.”Tong” – to make the lumen narrowed by the lesion pass through again There are many natural ducts in human body, such as esophagus, bile duct, trachea, intestine and blood vessels, etc. After the tumor grows in these parts, it often leads to blockage or compression, causing corresponding clinical symptoms. For example, esophageal cancer will cause difficulty in eating; scar after surgery or radiotherapy of esophageal cancer will also cause narrowing and difficulty in eating and drinking; bile duct cancer, gastric cancer and pancreatic cancer will block and compress the bile duct, so that bile cannot be discharged, which will cause “yellow” and itching all over the body; pressure on trachea will cause difficulty in breathing; lung cancer and mediastinal lymphoma will compress the upper cavity, so that the patient will have difficulty in breathing. Venous vessels will cause congestion and edema in the face, neck, upper limbs and upper chest, and conjunctival edema in the eyes, as well as dyspnea, coughing, chest tightness and chest pain, etc. All these symptoms are caused by the failure of the corresponding ducts. Minimally invasive interventional treatment expands the compressed ducts or places stents to hold up the duct walls by placing balloons, which can make the inaccessible ducts smooth, rapidly relieve the symptoms of luminal stenosis, improve patients’ quality of life and physical status, and win the time for further treatment. 4. “Dissipation” – internal “blasting”, crushing tumor “Dissipation” refers to percutaneous puncture ablation of tumor. Under the guidance of medical imaging equipment, the treatment instrument is precisely positioned on the tumor by percutaneous puncture, and the tumor tissue is destroyed through chemical or physical means, so as to achieve the purpose of treating the tumor. The most common way of “elimination” is: percutaneous anhydrous alcohol ablation: percutaneous injection of anhydrous alcohol into the tumor causes coagulative necrosis of the tumor; in the interventional treatment of liver and kidney cysts, a fine needle is penetrated into the cyst, the cyst fluid is extracted, and then alcohol is injected, which can cause coagulation and denaturation of the cyst wall cells, cell destruction, hardening and closure of the cyst wall, and stop the secretion of cyst fluid. The cysts can be reduced in size or disappeared. This method is not only less painful and inexpensive, but also less likely to recur. Percutaneous implantation of radioactive particles: irradiating tumor at close distance, with little damage to normal tissues; percutaneous radiofrequency ablation: using radiofrequency electrode needle directly inserted into the tumor, through the exposed electrode needle, the positive and negative ions in the surrounding tissues produce high-speed vibration and friction in the radiofrequency electric field, and then transform into heat energy, which gradually accumulates over time and conducts to the periphery, thus causing thermal degeneration and coagulative necrosis of local tumor tissues. The thermal energy accumulates gradually over time and is transmitted to the periphery, thus causing thermal degeneration and coagulative necrosis of local tumor tissue. Percutaneous argon-helium knife cryosurgery system: referred to as argon-helium knife, the superconducting needle is punctured into the tumor percutaneously, using argon gas to cool down rapidly and helium gas to heat up rapidly, one cold and one hot “two knives” in the tumor tissue to “pulverize” the tumor cells. Pathological diagnosis is the “gold standard” for tumor diagnosis. In the past, for deep human tumors, such as lung, liver, abdomen, etc., it is often necessary to cut some tissues for pathological biopsy, which is more traumatic for patients, and if it is a benign tumor or a malignant tumor requiring chemotherapy, the patient suffers a knife for nothing, and if it is a malignant tumor requiring surgery, the patient has to undergo surgery again. Interventional treatment produces then the most ideal state to obtain a clear pathology through minimal damage. Through the interventional method, a cutting needle is punctured precisely through the skin under the guidance of ultrasound and CT to reach the lesion, and a small amount of tissue is cut for pathological examination, and the wound is only the size of a needle eye, which greatly reduces the trauma suffered by the patient’s body. The “extraction” also includes percutaneous aspiration and drainage of abscesses or cysts in various areas, where the cystic fluid or pus is aspirated under image guidance and then flushed with an inactivator or antibiotic solution, such as percutaneous aspiration and drainage for patients with biliary cholestasis. Precautions prior to intervention Ensure adequate sleep before surgery and accept treatment in a good state of mind; use easily digestible and less residual food 1-2 days before performing intervention to prevent bleeding from the puncture site due to straining to defecate after the procedure. Fasting and abstaining from food and water for 4-6 hours before the operation to prevent vomiting during the operation; if the puncture site is in the groin, skin preparation and removal of pubic hair are required before the operation to prevent postoperative infection. Second, post-intervention precautions 1, strengthen nutrition: eat more high-protein, high-vitamin, high-calorie, low-fat diet, quit smoking, alcohol, spicy and other stimulating foods, eat more fruits and vegetables, and keep the bowel movement smooth. 2, appropriate exercise: the amount of activity does not cause palpitations, heart tiredness, shortness of breath or after the activity of the pulse does not exceed 10% of the pre-activity is appropriate, avoid overexertion. 3, regular life: maintain adequate sleep time, pay attention to climate change, avoid catching cold and flu. 4.Take medication on time: use some immune-enhancing drugs such as spleen tonics and qi tonics, avoid taking anti-tumor drugs as much as possible, and do not use or be careful with drugs that damage the liver. 5.Regular re-examination: After surgery, regular re-examination should be conducted according to the doctor’s prescription to track and monitor the condition.