Baptist Interventional Radiologist Uses Advanced Techniques to Precisely Attack Cancer Tumors, Sees Prolonging of Life

Baptist board certified physicians take multidisciplinary team approach to treating tumors.

Jackson, MS (PRWEB) June 26, 2007 -- As part of Baptist Health Systems' team of board certified physicians in Jackson, Miss., Interventional Radiologist Timothy Usey, MD, uses state-of-the-art imaging equipment and minimally invasive techniques to deliver cancer-fighting agents to precisely attack tumors. Interventional radiologists are medical doctors using imaging equipment such as fluoroscopy, magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, ultrasound and computed tomography (CT) to diagnose and treat disease. IRs are board certified radiologists, fellowship trained in percutaneous interventions using imaging guidance. Their specialized training is certified by the America Board of Medical Specialties.

"At Baptist, we take a multidisciplinary team approach to treating patients," Dr. Usey said. "We have board-certified physicians, including specialists in surgery, oncology, interventional radiology, gastroenterology, radiation oncology, and pathology to develop and implement the most effective treatment plan for each patient."

While there are many common interventional radiology procedures Dr. Usey performs, he elaborated on the positive results that Baptist physicians are seeing in patients treated with hepatic artery chemoembolization to fight liver tumors. Chemoembolization is a minimally-invasive, image-guided procedure in which cancer-fighting drugs are delivered directly into the blood vessels supplying liver tumors. The technique is primarily used for treating primary liver cancer (hepatocellular carcinoma), as well as metastases from carcinoid tumors and pancreatic islet cell tumors.

"Anytime a patient has a liver tumor, you want to surgically remove it if you can. In those patients with unresectable hepatic malignancies, however, chemoembolization can be amazingly effective in destroying the bulk of the malignant tissue," Dr. Usey explained. "Of course, chemoembolization cannot cure these patients, but we typically see this procedure destroying more than 90 percent of the liver tumor in most patients."

Dr. Usey added that patients who originally presented with a very limited life expectancy are now living three to four years after a diagnosis of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. "Success is not guaranteed, but chemoembolization is the single best therapy for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma in patients able to tolerate the procedure."

During chemoembolization, under x-ray guidance, a small catheter is inserted into an artery in the groin. The catheter's tip is threaded into the artery in the liver that supplies blood flow to the tumor. Chemoembolization uses several cancer-fighting drugs which are mixed with particles that embolize, or block, the flow of blood to the diseased tissue.

Radiofrequency ablation is another popular treatment for not only liver cancer, but also many other malignancies elsewhere in the body. It is a procedure that uses electrical currents to generate heat that destroys malignant tissue in the body. It involves inserting a thin needle, guided by imaging techniques such as ultrasound or computed tomography, through the skin (or, in some cases, through a laparoscopic incision) and into the core of a tumor.

"Liver cancer affects a large number of Mississippians," Dr. Usey said. "Effective treatment can be complex, but Baptist has a variety of physicians that come together as a team to offer the best treatment options for the patient and no other health care organization in the state has that."

Dr. Usey is a board certified radiologist, with a certificate of added qualification (CAQ) in interventional radiology, and received his Doctor of Medicine degree from The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore,MD. He completed his residency at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta, GA and fellowship at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO.

For more information on Baptist Cancer Services visit http://www.mbhs.org/med_serv/cancer/index.htm or call the Baptist Health Line at 1-800-948-6262.

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