Hot Attack

New technology zaps
pre-cancerous cells to
avert esophageal cancer.

Bob Ortlieb
and Nicole Lupiloff
Special to the Jewish News

ere's a fact that may be
hard to swallow: The
incidence of esophageal
cancer in the United
States is rising much faster than
breast cancer, prostate cancer and

H

melanoma. Thanks to new, minimally
invasive technology that uses heat to
zap pre-cancerous cells,
radiofrequency abla-
tion has shown promise
in preventing one of

Going in for an endoscopy test

for an unrelated breathing prob-
lem, doctors found that Joe had a
condition called Barrett's esopha-
gus. This is brought on by gastro-
esophageal acid reflux disease, or
GERD, a condition that produces
heartburn, regurgitation and chest
pain. Over time, GERD can alter the
tissue in the esophagus and set the

stage for esophageal cancer.
"Barrett's esophagus is caused

the most deadly forms
of esophageal cancer
— adenocarcinoma.
The new treatment

option available at
Beaumont Hospitals

in Royal Oak and Troy
uses radio waves to
produce heat that

destroys abnormal
tissue in a technique
called "ablation." The

FDA-approved BARRX
radiofrequency ablation
treatment is an outpa-

248.683.1010
Visitors welcome!
Call or stop by today.

tient procedure dur-
ing which a physician
inserts a catheter (tube)

down the throat of a
mildly sedated patient
to deliver the heat.

"BARRX radiofre-
quency ablation is
very sophisticated.

Dr. Mitchell Cappell

It's a precise, high-
tech treatment that burns away
only about 500 microns of the

esophageal lining without damag-
ing esophageal function or caus-
ing problems in swallowing," says

by damage from acid coming into
the food pipe. The acid injures the
normal skin or lining of the food
pipe and the normal lining is then

replaced by a more acid-resistant

Mitchell S. Cappell, M.D., Ph.D.,
chief, Division of Gastroenterology,
Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak.

lining. Unfortunately, this new lin-
ing, called Barrett's esophagus, can
advance to become esophageal

One patient that benefited from
the BARRX treatment was Joe
Friedberg, 62, of Sylvan Lake. For

cancer," explains Dr. Cappell.
Friedberg, a sales rep, expe-
rienced minimal symptoms prior

a guy who had never been in the
hospital, he happened to be at the
right place at the right time in sum-

to his Barrett's diagnosis, but is
thrilled that it was detected early.

mer 2008.

HOT ATTACK on page 42

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August 27 2009

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