No incisions or scars! The miracle treatment that vaporizes tumors: Ablation

A special needle is used

Interventional oncology can be defined as minimally invasive surgical treatments performed with radiological imaging such as ultrasound, tomography, and angiography. Interventional Radiology Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Murat Dökdök, who said that they can destroy the tumor while performing imaging with ablation and giving heat at the same time, said, “There is no need for any incision thanks to a special needle used in the procedure. This technique, which provides almost equal success to surgery, has attracted considerable attention among cancer treatments in recent years.”

Tumors are burned

Ablation is one of the most striking applications under the title of interventional oncology. Stating that this procedure, which has been seen to achieve the same success as surgical options in recent scientific studies, can be used in every tumor, Interventional Radiology Specialist Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Murat Dökdök said, “However, it is a method used more frequently in liver, lung, kidney, soft tissue and bone cancers. Ablation, which literally means ‘melting’, means burning tumors by exposing them to a temperature of at least 70-80 degrees, thus completely destroying the mass.”

No cuts or scars

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Murat Dökdök, who stated that ablation is performed by entering the tumor with a special needle similar to a biopsy needle without making an incision in the skin, under the guidance of imaging, said, “This way, no scars are formed on the skin. The tumor is burned with the heat energy given to the tumor cell from the tip of the needle. When compared to surgery, we see that the risks are reduced and the healing process is accelerated. Moreover, it can be recommended not only for advanced stage patients but also in the earliest stages of the disease.”

Processing time varies depending on the number of audiences.

Explaining that the duration of ablation treatment varies according to the number of lesions, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ahmet Murat Dökdök warned, “For example, while the ablation period is one hour for one or two lesions, three to four hours are needed if there are 10 lesions. It is sufficient for the patient to prepare in accordance with standard surgical procedures before and after the procedure. It is also important for patients to be informed about possible bleeding or infections after the procedure and for periodic checks to be carried out strictly.”

All tumor margins are under control after ablation

Emphasizing that artificial intelligence-supported imaging methods are used to measure the success of the procedure, Dökdök said, “Thus, all tumor borders are checked. Although ultrasound is most commonly used for imaging, it is a fact that angiographic tomography is slowly coming to the fore. Angiographic tomography, which is used for navigation and planning purposes especially when reaching tumors, surpasses its competitors by capturing additional lesions that cannot be detected with other imaging methods in some patients. With the angiographic method, which means imaging blood vessels with X-ray, medication is administered to the artery and detailed information about the tumor is obtained with the tomographic images obtained. Masses that are ablated are checked again with the same method after the procedure. In the near future, all these treatments will be more integrated with artificial intelligence and navigation technologies. Thus, patients will have a much faster and easier treatment opportunity and will be exposed to less radiation.”