Implant advances cancer treatment
ABritish woman has become the first cancer patient to have a pump implanted in her body in an experiment that doctors said could be a ‘‘game-changer’’ for thousands of patients.
The pump is designed to get rid of the dangerous buildup of fluid caused by many common cancers, sparing patients gruelling hospital visits.
In the longer term, doctors hope the device will make it easier to track how a cancer is changing so they can respond with new treatments.
The 62-year-old woman with ovarian cancer had the pump implanted under her skin at Hammersmith Hospital in London yesterday. Doctors said she was recovering well from the hour-long procedure. The woman, who works as a cleaner, had been in extreme discomfort, said Dr Laura Spiers, part of the medical team caring for her.
‘‘She had been coming into hospital every three weeks and every time we took out four or five litres of fluid. It was making her feel sick and just miserable. She was barely eating because of the pressure of fluid,’’ Dr Spiers said. ‘‘She never wants to sit still, she’s always active and that made her a good candidate.’’
A full clinical trial is due to start soon and the implant will not be routinely available on Britain’s National Health Service for some time, but if successful it could change treatment for many types of cancer.
Professor Hani Gabra, director of the Ovarian Cancer Action Research Centre at Imperial College London, is leading the project.
‘‘Although this lady has ovarian cancer, this is a generally recognised complication of many different kinds of cancer,’’ he said.
About a third of women with ovarian cancer develop ascites, a buildup of fluid in the abdomen. Cancers of the bowel, pancreas, uterus and breast can also cause the problem.
At present, patients have to go to hospital regularly for a procedure to drain the fluid, which can last several days.
‘‘It’s exhausting, nutritionally depleting and as time goes on it can lead to death,’’ Prof Gabra said. ‘‘At any one time we have two or three people having this procedure done.’’
He hopes patients could be spared the ordeal by using the alfapump device, which pumps fluid from the abdomen into the bladder, allowing it to pass out in urine.
It has been tried on liver patients, but yesterday’s operation marks the first time it has been used to treat cancer. ‘‘It’s smaller than an iPod and charges wirelessly through the skin,’’ he said.
It would improve quality of life and could make it easier for doctors to win their ‘‘game of chess’’ with cancer, he said.
‘‘The fluid is full of cancer cells so that the patient will pee out ascites and cancer cells which can be analysed, and that’s potentially very important in an era of personalised medicine.’’
Rather than having to do invasive biopsies, doctors might ultimately be able to monitor the progress of cancer through urine samples and react more quickly, he said.
‘‘It could be a game-changer if it really works.’’