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Cancer Resources > Cancer News > 2001 > August

Cryotherapy might be first-line treatment for early lung cancer

Last Updated: 2001-08-08 12:56:44 EDT (Reuters Health) - Cryotherapy performed through a rigid bronchoscope is both safe and effective in the treatment of patients with early lung cancer, French researchers have found.

Dr. Jean-Michel Vergnon, of Hopital Nord in Saint-Etienne, France, and a multicenter team tested the safety and long-term efficacy of cryotherapy in 35 patients with histologically confirmed early superficial bronchogenic carcinoma, seven of whom had lesions at multiple sites.

A complete histologic response was noted in 32 patients (91%) at 1 month and in the same number at 1 year, with "no severe adverse effects," Dr. Vergnon's team reports in the July issue of Chest. In seven of these patients, local recurrence was observed within 4 years. Of 22 patients for whom followup data were available at 48 to 89 months, 11 were still alive.

"For early superficial bronchogenic carcinoma, we think that conservative therapy could be proposed as first-line treatment, sparing the pulmonary parenchyma and allowing surgical salvage when necessary," the authors conclude. "Based first on the efficacy-tolerance ratio and then on the favorable cost of each method, we suggest that cryotherapy should be the best first choice."

In a related editorial, Dr. Richard J. Thurer, of the University of Miami School of Medicine in Florida, is slightly less optimistic about the new results. He notes that cryotherapy, like other treatments for early superficial bronchogenic carcinoma, has several disadvantages, including "delayed results and the requirement for multiple endoscopies to remove debris or to retreat."

While Dr. Thurer agrees that "cryosurgery in early lesions may well be effective," he stresses caution in interpreting the French findings and, like Dr. Vergnon and his colleagues, suggests that conclusions about the efficacy of this approach must await randomized clinical trials.

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