Tumor ablation is an intervention which presents clinicians with new opportunities to treat cancer patients, whilst minimizing some risks presented with other well established interventions. Through the use of high temperatures to destroy small tumors, this method generally has fewer and less severe adverse effects than surgical interventions, and commonly requires a shorter time for patient recovery than surgery. Tumor ablation techniques are most commonly considered in cancers of the lungs, bones, kidneys, and the liver.
Of course like all clinical interventions for cancer care it is not without its faults and limitations, most notably ablation techniques can only be considered for smaller tumors, meaning that a cancer would need to be identified quite early for this technique to be an option to the cancer care team. Although, in instances where the tumor is too large to be completely eradicated via ablation there is the opportunity for this technique to reduce the size of the tumor to optimize outcomes when incorporating other cancer treatment methods. Additionally, another major advantage to this procedure is the relatively short amount of time it takes, ranging from 30 minutes in some instances to a small number of hours.
There are a variety of methodologies regarding how the high temperatures are generated by clinicians, and with each comes different advantages and disadvantages which need to be researched further to provide rationales for their use in different clinical scenarios. Microwaves, lasers, and High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) are the most commonly used. Cancer imaging techniques, such as ultrasound, computed tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), are used to guide the ablation needle to the cancer site, which permits this intervention to be as minimally invasive as is possible.
This Research Topic invites manuscript submissions which offer insight into the future opportunities and technological advancements of image guided tumor ablation techniques in cancers. Submissions may concern new imaging techniques, or new advancements such as the inclusion of artificial intelligence or deep learning neural networks. Submissions may also address new methods of improving outcomes of patients who have undergone or are to undergo tumor ablation procedures, or broaden the instances where ablation techniques may be considered.
Important Note: Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) will not be accepted in any of the sections of Frontiers in Oncology.
Tumor ablation is an intervention which presents clinicians with new opportunities to treat cancer patients, whilst minimizing some risks presented with other well established interventions. Through the use of high temperatures to destroy small tumors, this method generally has fewer and less severe adverse effects than surgical interventions, and commonly requires a shorter time for patient recovery than surgery. Tumor ablation techniques are most commonly considered in cancers of the lungs, bones, kidneys, and the liver.
Of course like all clinical interventions for cancer care it is not without its faults and limitations, most notably ablation techniques can only be considered for smaller tumors, meaning that a cancer would need to be identified quite early for this technique to be an option to the cancer care team. Although, in instances where the tumor is too large to be completely eradicated via ablation there is the opportunity for this technique to reduce the size of the tumor to optimize outcomes when incorporating other cancer treatment methods. Additionally, another major advantage to this procedure is the relatively short amount of time it takes, ranging from 30 minutes in some instances to a small number of hours.
There are a variety of methodologies regarding how the high temperatures are generated by clinicians, and with each comes different advantages and disadvantages which need to be researched further to provide rationales for their use in different clinical scenarios. Microwaves, lasers, and High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) are the most commonly used. Cancer imaging techniques, such as ultrasound, computed tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), are used to guide the ablation needle to the cancer site, which permits this intervention to be as minimally invasive as is possible.
This Research Topic invites manuscript submissions which offer insight into the future opportunities and technological advancements of image guided tumor ablation techniques in cancers. Submissions may concern new imaging techniques, or new advancements such as the inclusion of artificial intelligence or deep learning neural networks. Submissions may also address new methods of improving outcomes of patients who have undergone or are to undergo tumor ablation procedures, or broaden the instances where ablation techniques may be considered.
Important Note: Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) will not be accepted in any of the sections of Frontiers in Oncology.
