The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Hospital now offers almost complete liver care

Dr. Shannon Kauffman points out images of arteries that lead to the liver. He's surrounded by equipment used to deliver Y-90 radioembolization treatment for liver cancer, which involves the delivery of millions of small resin beads loaded with high dose radiation directly to tumors. Staff Photo by Jim Witmer

Jim Witmer Dr. Shannon Kauffman points out images of arteries that lead to the liver. He's surrounded by equipment used to deliver Y-90 radioembolization treatment for liver cancer, which involves the delivery of millions of small resin beads loaded with high dose radiation directly to tumors. Staff Photo by Jim Witmer

ENLARGE PHOTO

New cancer treatments help hospitals compete regionally

Bishops: New birth control rule ‘a first step’
2/11/12
UD to re-evaluate contraception plan
2/11/12
Developer paid for officials’ flight to scout arena
2/11/12
Oversight lacking in base contract worth $82.5M
2/11/12
Cold, wind to keep roads slick today
2/11/12
> More headlines

By Ben Sutherly, Staff Writer Updated 11:43 PM Friday, July 30, 2010

DAYTON — In creating a center specifically for liver cancer this year, Miami Valley Hospital hopes to improve the odds of survival for liver cancer patients with tumors that can’t be surgically removed.

When it comes to liver cancer treatment, “the only thing now that we don’t offer here is liver transplants,” said Dr. Shannon Kauffman, interventional radiologist.

In late April, Kauffman and other doctors began targeting liver tumors that can’t be surgically removed with millions of miniscule resin beads loaded with high dose radiation (yttrium 90) that invade tumors through their blood supply. The hospital said it’s the first in the region to offer the treatment, called Y-90 radioembolization.

Previously, patients had to travel to Cincinnati, Columbus or Indianapolis to receive treatment. Such travel can take a toll on patients and their families, said Claire Rodehaver, the hospital nursing director who oversees its cancer program.

“It’s exhausting at a period of time when they would rather not be spending their time that way,” Rodehaver said.

Three patients have received the treatment so far at Miami Valley Hospital, and six more are awaiting treatment there, Kauffman said. The hospital expects to perform 24 such treatments in the first year of offering them.

“It’s a minimally invasive treatment that is generally very well tolerated, and it’s proven to extend life and extend quality of life,” Kauffman said.

The most common side effect is fatigue, Kauffman said. Abdominal pain and nausea can also develop.

The treatment is offered on an outpatient basis over the course of two visits. A planning arteriogram — a road map specific to the arteries that supply each patient’s liver, tumors and abdominal organs — is developed during the first visit and the beads are infused by way of a catheter during the second visit.

In addition to primary liver cancer, the treatment can be used for a variety of cancers that have spread to the liver, including colon, breast, melanoma and neuroendocrine cancers, Kauffman said.

Hospital officials last week could not provide the treatment’s overall cost, though patients are typically responsible for directly paying a small fraction of that cost, if anything.

The SIR-Spheres technology Miami Valley Hospital is using was developed in Australia and received U.S. regulatory approval in 2002, according to a vendor brochure for patients.

When used in combination with chemotherapy, the median survival rate two years after treatment was 39 percent, compared to 29 percent for those undergoing only a chemotherapy regimen.

Patients are evaluated at Miami Valley Hospital South in Centerville, and those approved for Y-90 receive the procedure at the main hospital in Dayton.

Helen Ellison, 75, who lives between Waynesville and Wilmington, was one of the first two patients who received the Y-90 treatment at Miami Valley Hospital on April 27. Diagnosed with colon cancer in July 2008, she had major surgery in January 2009, by which time the cancer had spread to her liver. Another spot was discovered on her liver in February, prompting the Y-90 treatment.

“It’s sneaky stuff,” Ellison said.

Ellison said her experience with the Y-90 procedure was a positive one. Afterward, she said she joked with Dr. Kauffman, “Oh, that was kind of fun.”

At last check in July, she was cancer-free, and she’s hopeful that she will live to see her four grandchildren grow up.

“I’m just believing there won’t be any more (cancer), but if there is I will handle it,” she said.

Share this article