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Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents

telegraph.co.uk

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Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents

#21

Post by rkagerer »

teruakohatu wrote: post #2

This seems like a game changer. According to the company website they have treated 6,000 patients. https://nanoknife.com Further Googling showed it has been around since 2008 and machine in 2010 the machines cost $300k. Maybe the novel application is prostate cancer? https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704029304575525...

Non-paywalled version of that WSJ article: https://archive.is/bDRgi.

And a dumbed-down video primer on how it works: https://nanoknife.com/technology/

Basically they insert somewhere between two and a handful 1mm diameter needles, then pulse with high voltage to kill the cells in between.

The article mentioned concerns from doctors that it hadn't been through large clinical trials yet. 13 years later, does anyone know of those trials have taken place?

Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents

#22

Post by lm28469 »

thr717272 wrote: post #7

First time it really hits home how large the risk is. 1/6 is a rather large risk.

The lifetime cancer risk is ~50% (all cancers)

Most of them are caused by lifestyle/environment: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/core/lw/2.0/html/tileshop_pmc/t...

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2515569/

Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents

#23

Post by agumonkey »

dcminter wrote: post #10
ars wrote: post #4

Is there anything about this that is specific to the prostate? Wouldn't this exact same treatment work on other accessible tumors, for example breast or skin?

My father had Nanoknife for pancreatic cancer; it wasn't a cure, but it reduced the tumour enough to buy him another couple of years.

Was he having a good quality of life after the operation?

Also what stage was he at when they used this procedure?

Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents

#24

Post by zkirill »

Dalewyn wrote: post #17
copperx wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Surely the slides were of men of an advanced age, right? Otherwise that statement is false.

I'm not a doctor, but my understanding has been that we all have cancer cells at any given point in time. Consider how many cells inside you are undergoing cell division; errors in cell division are where cancer cells come from. The question is whether your body sees and kills the cancer cells; most of the time it does, which is why most of us can live pleasantly for most of our lives despite errors cropping up silen…

This is my understanding as well and my favorite protein, p53 [1], is responsible for hunting down cancerous cells. From what I remember reading in Robins Basic Pathology, it takes many steps for a cell to evolve into cancer and our body has ways to reduce the probability at each step. The most fascinating topic to me is how someone's lifestyle and environment affect their body's natural cancer defence mechanisms. We can do many things to stack the odds in our favour, but sometimes the odds are still not in our favour. Should we strive to minimize the chance by adjusting our lifestyle and changing the environment, or strive for some kind of balance?

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/P53

Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents

#25

Post by amelius »

rkagerer wrote: post #21
teruakohatu wrote: post #2

This seems like a game changer. According to the company website they have treated 6,000 patients. https://nanoknife.com Further Googling showed it has been around since 2008 and machine in 2010 the machines cost $300k. Maybe the novel application is prostate cancer? https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704029304575525...

Non-paywalled version of that WSJ article: https://archive.is/bDRgi . And a dumbed-down video primer on how it works: https://nanoknife.com/technology/ Basically they insert somewhere between two and a handful 1mm diameter needles, then pulse with high voltage to kill the cells in between. The article mentioned concerns from doctors that it hadn't been through large clinical trials yet. 13 years later, does anyone kn…

> with high voltage

How high? Or is it the current that is controlled?

Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents

#26

Post by markdown »

Antipodes456 wrote: post #6

Sample size n=1, but my dad was on the research or clinical trial of this exact treatment in Sydney, it worked for his prostate cancer, he's still clear from PSA tests (and possibly had biopsy also. No side effects. Previously he'd had the radioactive beads treatment which failed, the only other option was removal. Both these options have potentially unpleasant side effects. Happy to ask him questions if anyone wants…

Could you share the hospital or research facility where this was done?

Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents

#27

Post by Dalewyn »

zkirill wrote: post #24
Dalewyn wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a doctor, but my understanding has been that we all have cancer cells at any given point in time. Consider how many cells inside you are undergoing cell division; errors in cell division are where cancer cells come from. The question is whether your body sees and kills the cancer cells; most of the time it does, which is why most of us can live pleasantly for most of our lives despite errors cropping up silen…

This is my understanding as well and my favorite protein, p53 [1], is responsible for hunting down cancerous cells. From what I remember reading in Robins Basic Pathology, it takes many steps for a cell to evolve into cancer and our body has ways to reduce the probability at each step. The most fascinating topic to me is how someone's lifestyle and environment affect their body's natural cancer defence mechanisms. We…

>Should we strive to minimize the chance by adjusting our lifestyle and changing the environment, or strive for some kind of balance?

That is as much a philosophical question as it is biological, and one where the answer will vary by who is asked.

Personally, I will say this: If you're miserable while endeavouring to prevent cancer (or any other disease), that's putting the cart before the horse. The goal is, presumably after all, to live happily.

Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents

#28

Post by einpoklum »

CommanderData wrote: post #5
ars wrote: post #4

Is there anything about this that is specific to the prostate? Wouldn't this exact same treatment work on other accessible tumors, for example breast or skin?

I read its effective at treating lung and liver cancers too. Early diagnosis is key to survival.

Your second sentence merits millions of upvotes.

Many health care provision systems don't invest in screening tests or other early-detection schemes, or they do make them available, but don't invest in raising awareness of their availability. I'm actually now at the age where I should start thinking about "What new periodic tests/checkups should you introduce within the next 5 years?" ... and at this point I'm still clueless, except that I know that at around 50 I should start getting my PSA checked.

Re: Prostate cancer could be treated by destroying tumors with electric currents

#29

Post by haldujai »

univr wrote: post #18

The department I work with created PROST, a robot that can help with biopsy for that type of cancer. It's still a Proof of Concept, but I think it's an interesting project to invest on. https://metropolis.scienze.univr.it/project/prost/

I actually perform image guided prostate biopsies, what is this solving / what’s the point?

We have great diagnostic accuracy with TRUS+MR fusion with standard equipment.

This just looks much slower and more expensive.

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