Bengaluru: Young mom cured of rare bone cancer with new tech

BENGALURU: Doctors at the Narayana Health City successfully performed a new treatment called Pedicle Cryotherapy on a 28-year-old mother who was suffering from Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare type of cancerous tumour that forms in the bone or in the soft tissue. Most often, it is a cancer that occurs in and around the bones.

The operation or the procedure performed on the woman cured her from bone cancer and also allowed her to retain her natural bone.

Doctors performed the new procedure of Pedicle Cryotherapy to cut just one end of the affected bone and retain the other end with the limb and surrounding muscles, tendons and soft tissues, instead of using the traditional method of cutting the affected bone at two ends and replacing it with an artificial one.

The patient was initially put through chemotherapy, which was not a permanent solution for her condition. Later, a surgical removal of the tumour was suggested. Doctors felt given the woman’s young age they suggested that the advanced medical procedure could be performed on her to make her feel normal.

In Pedicle Cryotherapy, only one end of the affected bone is cut while keeping the other end in continuity with the limb and the surrounding muscles, tendons as well as soft tissue. The affected area is dipped in liquid nitrogen under a temperature of -195 degree, which kills all the tumor cells. Once the cells are destroyed, the same bone is put back in its original position and fixed with a plate.

“The biggest advantage of this therapy is it allows the patient to do any activity without any restriction. As traditional surgery inserts an artificial metal bone, the patient is restrained from sitting on the floor or doing any physical activity that exerts pressure on the legs. Also, recovery is much faster as the normal bone and soft tissue structures are not damaged,” said Dr Suman Byragowda, Musculo-Skeletal Oncosurgeon, Narayana Health City.