SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Surgical Oncology programs at UCSF are revolutionizing treatments for advanced gastrointestinal cancers, including new ways to target chemotherapy, and the use of advanced robotic surgery.
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Pancreatic cancer is one of the leading sources of cancer-related mortality in the U.S., and colon cancer is increasing in younger populations. In half of colon cancer cases, the disease will spread to the liver, causing tumors that overwhelm the organ.
Previously, when colon cancer metastasized, patients were given limited treatment options. But UCSF's gastrointestinal oncology division is zeroing in on new mechanisms of treatment.
"We've had a program in single port robotics for colon cancers and rectal cancers, and we've also launched a very successful minimally invasive robotic program for pancreatic cancers and other cancers of the liver and pancreas that can be removed using these robotic technologies," said Dr. Ajay Maker, professor, Surgical Oncologist and Chief of the UCSF Division of Surgical Oncology.
Maker told KCBS Radio's "As Prescribed" that he and his team are particularly excited about two programs they offer to surgically target chemotherapy directly to metastatic colon tumors.
"A small surgical pump can be implanted with a catheter going directly into an artery feeding the liver that can deliver high-dose chemotherapy, specifically and only into the liver, at a concentration of greater than 200 times what can be normally given in the bloodstream," he explained.
When using this direct approach, the medicine can delay the cancer or even prevent the disease from coming back.
This use of a surgically implanted hepatic artery infusion pump can also be used to treat patients who may have too many liver tumors to remove.
"In many of those cases, they can convert to becoming surgical candidates because the tumors will respond, and in cases where we thought there was no hope, now, all of a sudden, we see a situation where we can actually do a surgery to remove the liver tumors because things are under more control," Maker said.
A secondary program out of UCSF involves delivering chemotherapy into the abdominal cavity at the time of surgery. This treatment — called HIPEC — is for patients whose diseases have metastasized throughout the abdominal cavity and who have limited treatment options.
"By surgically removing the visible cancers and then at the same time providing chemotherapy directly to the lining of the abdomen, many of the these patients can experience improved cancer outcomes," Maker said.
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