{"id":9204,"date":"2020-06-07T08:00:45","date_gmt":"2020-06-07T13:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.osfhealthcare.org\/blog\/?p=9204"},"modified":"2022-01-25T13:03:19","modified_gmt":"2022-01-25T19:03:19","slug":"nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/","title":{"rendered":"NanoKnife: Exciting potential in cancer treatment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Time is precious.<\/p>\n

We even monetize time, charging for services or getting paid at rates per hour, day, week, month or year. In the end, though, people tend to value time over money. In fact, studies show that people who value time over money are happier.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one reason why medical advances are such big deals. These breakthroughs help extend the time we have to spend with loved ones, doing things we enjoy.<\/p>\n

One such technological advance in the fight against cancer is the NanoKnife System\u00ae, which arrived at OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center<\/a> in Peoria, Illinois, this winter.<\/p>\n

Survival time after diagnosis doubles<\/h2>\n

Pancreatic cancer<\/a> is difficult to diagnose in its early stages when it\u2019s more treatable. By Stage 3, while it has not spread to other organs, it is often too advanced to be able to remove surgically. Average life expectancy after diagnosis of Stage 3 pancreatic cancer is about nine to 15 months, in part depending on what treatment options are feasible.<\/p>\n

The NanoKnife is changing that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThus far, we\u2019re seeing studies that using the NanoKnife virtually doubles life expectancy for pancreatic cancer patients,\u201d said Tom Cox, director of Radiology, Radiation Oncology and OSF Cancer Services at OSF Saint Francis<\/a>. \u201cOn average, we\u2019ve been told life expectancy for these patients is around two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom my perspective, what we are trying to do is give people options. Patients want it straight from providers: \u2018Lay out my options and let\u2019s decide what direction to go.\u2019 This is another option we can show and give them another chance to live longer \u2013 and maybe the chance to live a lot longer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Limits on pancreatic cancer treatment<\/h2>\n

Thermal ablation \u2013 a menu of procedures that treat cancer by using probes to apply extreme heat or cold \u2013 is a technique that can be used for tumors that cannot be surgically removed. It kills not only cancerous cells but also healthy cells in adjacent structures. Some organs can tolerate this collateral damage, but others, such as the duodenum and the common bile duct, which are around the pancreas, cannot. The same type of damage to healthy cells occurs with radiation.<\/p>\n

\"Nano<\/p>\n

\u201cIn regard to thermal ablative therapies, the pancreas is an organ that doesn\u2019t like to be messed with,\u201d said Robert King, MD, director of Non-Invasive Vascular Imaging for Central Illinois Radiological Associates<\/a> in Peoria.<\/p>\n

The pancreas is located behind the stomach and tucked under the liver. It\u2019s about six inches long, and its head is connected to the small intestine.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause the pancreas is high real estate and there are other major structures and vessels in the area, you can\u2019t cut the cancer out in surgery unless you\u2019ve diagnosed it relatively early,\u201d said Sonia Orcutt, MD<\/a>, medical director of Surgical Oncology for Peoria Surgical Group.<\/p>\n

Kill cancer cells, save healthy cells<\/h2>\n

Dr. King and Dr. Orcutt are two of three physicians at OSF Saint Francis trained to use the NanoKnife System. The third is Chandler Wilfong, MD<\/a>, of OSF Medical Group \u2013 Surgery<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The NanoKnife probes are placed around the tumor with image guidance. The probes then deliver a series of high voltage pulses to cancerous cells. But rather than burning or freezing, like the thermal ablation probes, the NanoKnife pulses punch holes through the cell membranes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat disrupts the equilibrium of the cell with its surrounding area, and the body says that cell needs to be destroyed because its membrane has been damaged,\u201d Tom said. \u201cThe body in essence is ridding the tumor on its own, recognizing there has been damage to all of the cancerous cells.\u201d<\/p>\n

The key is being able to target the diseased cells and minimize the peripheral damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can place the probes next to an artery or vein and ablate cancer tissue while leaving the arteries and veins intact,\u201d Dr. King said. \u201cThat gives us a huge advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Exciting potential<\/h2>\n

Nine to 15 months; basically a year, give or take. That might not sound like much, but think about all the living that can be packed into that amount of time. One more holiday. One more round of family birthdays. A graduation. A wedding. The birth of a child or grandchild.<\/p>\n

Studies show an average two-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer patients who have undergone NanoKnife procedures.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd that average of two years is going to grow,\u201d Tom said.<\/p>\n

The NanoKnife System isn\u2019t just for pancreatic cancer, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a patient scheduled for soft tissue ablation of recurrent anal cancer,\u201d Dr. King said. \u201cWe have some other cases, outside the pancreas; a couple of patients with liver cancer<\/a> that look like good candidates. There is a multi-center trial going on now, hopefully to be completed this summer, that gives me hope that this technology may be a viable option to treat prostate cancer<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The potential of the NanoKnife is great, according to Dr. Orcutt.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great,\u201d she said, \u201cto be on the front lines of something like this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center offers a procedure that has been shown to double survival time after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":85,"featured_media":9283,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[101],"tags":[898,756,372],"coauthors":[912],"class_list":["post-9204","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cancer","tag-cancer-treatment","tag-osf-medical-group","tag-osf-saint-francis"],"yoast_head":"\nNanoKnife: Exciting potential in cancer treatment | OSF HealthCare<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center offers a procedure that's been shown to double survival time after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NanoKnife: Exciting potential in cancer treatment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center offers a cancer treatment that's been shown to double survival time.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"OSF HealthCare Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-06-07T13:00:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-01-25T19:03:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/nano-knife-ft3.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kirk Wessler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"NanoKnife: Exciting potential in cancer treatment\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center offers a cancer treatment that's been shown to double survival time.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/nano-knife-ft3.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@osfhealthcare\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kirk Wessler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/\",\"name\":\"NanoKnife: Exciting potential in cancer treatment | OSF HealthCare\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/nano-knife-ft3.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-06-07T13:00:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-01-25T19:03:19+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/bbcfadf7d37885247c75afc4eb7ce56e\"},\"description\":\"OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center offers a procedure that's been shown to double survival time after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/nano-knife-ft3.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/nano-knife-ft3.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Nano Knife\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"NanoKnife: Exciting potential in cancer treatment\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"OSF HealthCare Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/bbcfadf7d37885247c75afc4eb7ce56e\",\"name\":\"Kirk Wessler\",\"description\":\"After being a writer for OSF HealthCare for three years, Kirk Wessler retired in January 2022. A Peoria native and graduate of Bradley University, Kirk's experience included working for newspapers in Missouri, Texas and the Peoria Journal Star. Kirk and his wife, Mary Frances, have five sons, four daughters-in-law and nine grandchildren. Kirk plans to spend his retirement on the golf course, mastering the guitar and traveling.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/author\/kwessler\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"NanoKnife: Exciting potential in cancer treatment | OSF HealthCare","description":"OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center offers a procedure that's been shown to double survival time after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"NanoKnife: Exciting potential in cancer treatment","og_description":"OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center offers a cancer treatment that's been shown to double survival time.","og_url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/","og_site_name":"OSF HealthCare Blog","article_publisher":"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/osfhealthcare","article_published_time":"2020-06-07T13:00:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-01-25T19:03:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/nano-knife-ft3.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kirk Wessler","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"NanoKnife: Exciting potential in cancer treatment","twitter_description":"OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center offers a cancer treatment that's been shown to double survival time.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/nano-knife-ft3.jpg","twitter_creator":"@osfhealthcare","twitter_site":"@osfhealthcare","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kirk Wessler","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/","name":"NanoKnife: Exciting potential in cancer treatment | OSF HealthCare","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/nano-knife-ft3.jpg","datePublished":"2020-06-07T13:00:45+00:00","dateModified":"2022-01-25T19:03:19+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/bbcfadf7d37885247c75afc4eb7ce56e"},"description":"OSF HealthCare Saint Francis Medical Center offers a procedure that's been shown to double survival time after a pancreatic cancer diagnosis.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/nano-knife-ft3.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/nano-knife-ft3.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Nano Knife"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/nanoknife-exciting-potential-in-cancer-treatment\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"NanoKnife: Exciting potential in cancer treatment"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/","name":"OSF HealthCare Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/bbcfadf7d37885247c75afc4eb7ce56e","name":"Kirk Wessler","description":"After being a writer for OSF HealthCare for three years, Kirk Wessler retired in January 2022. A Peoria native and graduate of Bradley University, Kirk's experience included working for newspapers in Missouri, Texas and the Peoria Journal Star. Kirk and his wife, Mary Frances, have five sons, four daughters-in-law and nine grandchildren. Kirk plans to spend his retirement on the golf course, mastering the guitar and traveling.","url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/author\/kwessler\/"}]}},"modified_by":"Daryl Scott","featured_image_url":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/nano-knife-ft3.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9204","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/85"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9204"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15021,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9204\/revisions\/15021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9204"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9204"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/osf-blog.live.imagescape.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=9204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}