'Star Wars' used to blast kidney tumours | Bay of Plenty News | Local News in Bay of Plenty

An international team of medical experts has assembled in Tauranga to perform the southern hemisphere's first "Star Wars" cryotherapy operation to treat Bay pensioner Jim Begley's kidney tumours.

The team - led by Peter Gilling, who also performed the first New Zealand cryotherapy for prostate cancer in the city in December last year - carried out the surgery on Tuesday.

Dr Gilling worked alongside a Dutch specialist, Dr Brunolf Lagerveld, who arrived in Tauranga on Monday, and medical technicians from Australia and England.

Dr Lagerveld and Dr Gilling operated on Papamoa's Mr Begley at Norfolk Hospital in Grace Rd and the patient was back on his feet yesterday and was home by lunchtime today, Dr Gilling said.

"I feel privileged and fortunate to be able to have this operation," 78-year-old Mr Begley said as the anaesthetist prepared him for the operation.

He first heard of the innovative procedure two months ago from urologist Dr Andre Westenburg, who is part of the specialist Tauranga urology team that includes Dr Gilling and Dr Mark Fraundorfer.

The international reputation of the team had led to the opportunity to perform the procedure in Tauranga, Dr Gilling said.

The cryotherapy procedure provides minimally invasive treatment for kidney tumours, using long, ultra-thin needles to kill a tumour by freezing it.

"The other choice was major invasive surgery that would require the tumour to be excised from the kidney - and it was also possible I might lose the kidney. This option (cryotherapy) sounded much better," Mr Begley said with a smile from the operating table.

"He should be home in three days," Dr Gilling chipped in.

Mr Begley said he would go home to recuperate with son John, his daughter-in-law Robyn and grandchildren, Eric, 11, and Conlan, 8.

The technology is so new that the manufacturer sent out its own specialists to help. Derek Jerome travelled from England in his role as clinical application specialist for the manufacturer, Oncura.

Marisa James, Oncura's regional marketing manager Asia-Pacific, came here from Sydney.

The precision needles allow argon gas to be delivered into the tumour using established keyhole surgery techniques, generating temperatures well below zero, and tissue is frozen at minus 40C and below.

Helium gas is then pumped in through the needles, causing a quick thaw, before a second round of argon is applied to the tumour.

Dr Lagerveld, who is based at the University Hospital in Amsterdam, said the freeze, thaw, freeze cycle damaged the tumour cells, while the kidney remained fully functional.

"I am used to the procedure being called Star Wars technology but the whole procedure takes about three hours."

He said the freezing technique was first tried in the 1850s when ice was used to treat breast cancer.

"The thin needles developed in the past 10 years enable us to deliver gas at the right temperature and to the right place. The first time you see the ice formation, it's amazing."

The gas forms precision iceballs to freeze a particular region to the desired size and shape of the tumour or cancerous tissue, he explained. "This largely preserves the kidney and kidney function."

The process relies on SeedNet technology to treat tumours typically 4cm and less in diameter. The whole package is portable, about the size of a clothes dryer, but the needles are very expensive and can be used only once.

Dr Gilling said the success of the operation could make Tauranga a focal point for renal cryotherapy in the South Pacific.

"Once the funding agencies see it is viable and probably cheaper - it's developmental, not experimental.

"The dollar cost is still evolving. It's substantially less in after-operation costs, because there are fewer complications."

Hundreds of New Zealanders undergo operations to remove kidney tumours each year.

Dr Gilling said about 60 per cent of kidney tumours were discovered coincidentally during scans for other ailments and about 20 per cent of those would be benign.

"The patient can sit and wait - it's an option - or they can choose cryotherapy."

He said this procedure was first used in 1998 and the results to date showed that in about 40 per cent of cases the tumour disappeared completely and in the rest it shrank and became benign.