IceCure Medical, an Israeli biomedical company that develops and markets minimally invasive cryoablation therapies, is now making headway in the treatment of lung cancer.
Cryoblation is the use of extreme cold to destroy diseased tissue.
Lung cancer is the second most common cancer in both men and women, not including skin cancer, according to the American Cancer Society (ACS). In men, prostate cancer is the most prevalent, while breast cancer is the most common for women; lung cancer accounts for about 14% of all new cancers.
In the United States alone, ACS estimates for 2013 include 228,190 new cases of lung cancer (118,080 in men and 110,110 in women) and 159,480 deaths from lung cancer (87,260 in men and 72,220 among women), accounting for about 27% of all cancer deaths.
IceCure has already secured FDA approval for IceSense3, an innovative cryoblation technique that it developed for the removal of fibroadenomas – commonplace benign lumps that can be moved easily from under the skin – as well as certain malignant tumors.
The Kameda Medical Center in Kamogawa City, Japan, recently bought two systems that were developed by the Israeli company in order to test out the procedure. The testing, headed by Dr. Akihiko Takahashi, internationally renowned chairman of Kameda’s Thoracic Surgery department, is based on IceSense3, a painless, inexpensive procedure– taking less than 15 minutes – that can be done with a needle at a physician’s office. It eliminates the need for surgery.
Aesthetics is an appealing side benefit of IceSense3. As noted by one patient quoted on the IceCure website, “I am very happy with the results, because there are no scars or anything. You wouldn’t know I had a procedure done.”
“A simple, ultrasound-guided office-based procedure can address the anxiety of living with an uncomfortable tumor in your breast,” according to the IceCure site. “Further, the size and shape of your breast will not be affected as the treated tissue is gradually reabsorbed. No study has reported recurrence of fibroadenomas after treatment with cryoablation.”
Dr. Andrew Kenler of Connecticut, a board certified General Surgeon and an Assistant Clinical Professor of Surgery at Yale Medical School, also featured on the IceCure site, explains:
“Cryoablation is a procedure that we know is safe, efficacious, cost effective and cosmetically superior to surgical removal. IceCure has improved upon the technology and developed a system optimized for breast fibroadenoma. My patients have been very happy with the short, painless procedure, and the ability to return to normal activity immediately.”
New preliminary testing has shown that the technique, which involves turning the tumors into balls of ice, could be most effective in treating lung tumors.
“Successful results in the Japanese trial may open the possibility to enter a huge market with hundreds of thousands of new cases every year,” said Hezi Himelfarb, IceCure’s president and CEO, stated, as published in No Camels – Israeli Innovation News.
Date: Nov 4, 2013