Improved tumor control and quality of life: Results of a new treatment approach for head and neck cancers

Medias Klinikum highlights improvement to standard therapies for head and neck cancers during the 38th Congress of the European Society of Surgical Oncology

BURGHAUSEN, GERMANY, October 23, 2018 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Medias Klinikum GmbH & Co KG, a private hospital specialized in surgical oncology, focusing on the treatment of primary and metastatic solid tumors, announces that the results from an ongoing study of regional chemotherapy as carotid artery infusion for oropharyngeal carcinoma via implantable port catheter systems, have been presented at the 38th Congress of the European Society of Surgical Oncology (ESSO) and BASO - the Association for Cancer Surgery. This data was preceded by the study, Carotid artery infusion via implantable catheters for squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsils, published in the peer-reviewed journal World Journal of Surgical Oncology (https://doi.org/10.1186/s12957-018-1404-8), who was also conducted by Professor Dr. Karl R. Aigner, one of the world’s most experienced experts in the field of regional chemotherapy, and his group. In 1981, he developed the technique of isolated liver perfusion and was the first physician worldwide performing this method in humans using a heart-lung machine.

An abstract of the presented data is published under the abstract number ESSO38-0290 in the abstract book of the Journal of the European Society of Surgical Oncology (EJSO).

Commenting on the announcement, Professor Dr. Karl R. Aigner, Head of the Department of Surgical Oncology at Medias Klinikum, said, “Chemoradiotherapy has a dominant role in therapy of head and neck cancers and is associated with improved response and survival rates. However, because of the high incidence of permanent long-lasting treatment associated toxicities there is a call for effective management of post-therapeutic quality of life issues faced by heavily treated patients. A study of Epstein JB published in A Cancer Journal for Clinicians in 2012 and Misono S published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology in 2008, reported that continuously impaired quality of life even contributes to the increased risk of head and neck cancer treatment related suicide and remains virtually throughout a cancer survivor’s life. Suicide is considered a major threat to head and neck cancer survivorship. In order to avoid exceeding toxicity from standard therapies, we considered a new treatment approach via implantable arterial port catheters. Thus, drugs can be administered easily without technically demanding placement of angiographic catheters, via the arterial route. Intra-arterial infusion generates high regional cytostatic concentrations despite low total dosage. In combination with simultaneous chemofiltration in the venous return from the tumor area, systemic toxicity can be kept low.”

The results obtained in this trial showed that regional chemotherapy (RCT) via implantable so-called Jet-Port-Allround catheters is safe, facilitates intra-arterial chemotherapy and shows significant improvement to standard therapies in terms of long-term tumor control, particularly in quality of life (QoL).

About Medias Klinikum, Department of Surgical Oncology
Medias Klinikum is a private clinic located in Burghausen (Bavaria), Germany specialized in regional chemotherapy (RCT), a targeted treatment modality for primary and metastatic tumors that is highly concentrated, regional, and less toxic. We have more than 35 years of expertise in this special field of surgical oncology. Prof. Dr. med. Aigner, the medical director of the clinic, is one of the world’s most experienced experts in this treatment method. He has given numerous lectures on RCT and performed guest operations in the most renowned institutions in the USA, Japan, China, Israel, Egypt, Australia and a number of other countries. In 1981, Professor Aigner developed a technique for performing the first isolated liver perfusion in humans using a heart-lung machine, and over subsequent years a variety of additional surgical procedures and specialized catheters for isolated therapy of organs and parts of the body, including the treatment of pancreatic carcinoma.

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