Cautery tool uses radio wave electricity to kill liver, kidney tumors
(continued)

Subsequent check-ups over one year showed no recurrence of the cancer.

Radiofrequency ablation is administered via long, stainless steel needles about the size and width of a hypodermic needle. The needles are thin enough that they can be inserted through tiny slits in the skin of the abdomen. Physicians watch the needles on images produced by ultrasound or a CT scanner.

Once the probes reach the tumor, physicians turn on the current that heats a metal ball at the tip of each needle. The electricity gently destroys tumor tissue. "It essentially hard-boils it," says Schneider.

Schneider became interested in radiofrequency because too often, his patients had liver tumors that were dangerously close to arteries or blood vessels, or the liver was too diseased to withstand conventional surgery.

"In selected patients, this technique has the same results but with fewer complications," he says.

McGahan, a pioneer in the field of radiofrequency ablation, published his first paper on the subject 10 years ago. His interests got a boost a few years ago when biomedical manufacturers began making new electrodes designed specifically for radio- frequency ablation.

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McGahan
with a radiofrequency ablation wand. The tool is small and sharp enough to be inserted into the body through tiny slits.