Turning a seven-year-old’s abdomen into a hot chemotherapy ‘bath’ sounds like a very radical treatment, but for Micheal Deng it was his best chance of surviving his extremely aggressive cancer. Last year Michael was diagnosed with desmoplastic small round cell tumour, or large masses in his abdomen. Standard intravenous chemotherapy was unlikely to be effective so the RCH medical teams took an innovative approach. RCH paediatric surgeon Mr Michael Nightingale first spent hours removing tiny tumours from Michael’s abdomen. He then administered the bath - warming the chemotherapy until it reached 41C and placing it directly into his abdomen. “We basically circulate the chemotherapy like a spa pool around the abdominal cavity,” Mr Nightingale said. “One of the things that makes a cell resistant to chemotherapy is that it can’t get through the wall or the membrane of the cell; heating it makes the cells porous, allowing the cells to absorb the chemotherapy,” RCH head of solid tumours and neuro-oncology Associate Professor Michael Sullivan said. Michael is only the second child to receive this treatment at the RCH, he is now back at home and ready for the new school year. bit.ly/1IdCP8K
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 04:00:01 +0000
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