Pain Palliation of Bone Metastases
InSightec Starts Pivotal Study of ExAblate to Treat Pain Caused by Bone Metastases
InSightec Receives European CE Mark for ExAblate 2000 Treatment of Pain Caused By Bone Metastases
See how MR guided focused ultrasound for pain palliation of bone metastases works.
Read peer-reviewed article on MR guided focused ultrasound surgery (MRgFUS) for the palliation of pain in patients with bone metastases - preliminary clinical experience
Read results Bone Metastases Studies on ExAblate of first 13 treated patients for pain palliation bone metastases with MR guided focused ultrasound surgery.
Bone is the third most common organ to which cancer metastasizes, after the lungs and liver. Almost all patients with metastatic prostate cancer harbor skeletal metastases and in breast cancer, bone is the second most common site of metastatic spread, with bone metastases found in 90% of patients dying of breast cancer. Palliation of symptoms is the primary goal of therapy, with multidisciplinary efforts yielding the best results.
The increasing longevity of the population coupled with better therapeutic management of cancer patients contributes to the high incidence and prevalence of metastatic bone lesions. Pain from bone metastases is the most common cause of cancer pain and as more patients are living with bone metastases, improving their Quality of Life (QoL) becomes a major challenge.
Current treatment options for pain control consist of systemic therapy (analgesics, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy and biphosphonates) and local treatments [radiation, surgery and more recently laser ablation and radiofrequency percutaneous ablation Unfortunately, most medical therapies do not achieve long-lasting efficacy, frequently cause side effects or need chronic administration. Although external beam radiation therapy is the current standard of care for cancer patients who present with localized bone pain, 20%–30% of patients treated with this modality do not experience pain relief and in others the palliation is only temporary. QoL of patients with bone metastases is often poor due to unrelenting pain.
MRgFUS for Pain Palliation of Bone Metastases
The ablation of bone metastatic lesions by focused ultrasound energy presents special considerations due to the special characteristics of the interaction of ultrasound beam with bony tissue. The acoustic absorption of bone tissue is approximately 50 times higher than that of soft tissue and the penetration of ultrasonic energy into the bone is minimal. In addition, the thermal conductivity of the bone is relatively low.
Refer to MR guided focused ultrasound surgery (MRgFUS) for the palliation of pain in patients with bone metastases - preliminary clinical experience
The objective of the phase I/II clinical trials with ExAblate was to evaluate the safety and initial effectiveness of MRgFUS for the palliation of pain in patients for whom other available treatments are not effective or not feasible. Effectiveness of pain palliation was evaluated using Visual Analog Scale (VAS) pain questionnaires and changes in dosage of patient’s pain relieving medications.
The clinical results after treating 32 patients showed no significant device related adverse event and most patients reported significant symptoms improvement and/or reduced their usage of analgesic medications after treatment. For more information, refer to the published article, MR guided focused ultrasound surgery (MRgFUS) for the palliation of pain in patients with bone metastases - preliminary clinical experience.
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To read an initial clinical report about the first seven patients press MR guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery for Palliation of Bone Metastases - Initial Clinical Report
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