California-based Uptake Medical reports its targeted vapor therapy system used in a "first-ever" human regional lung cancer tumor ablation procedure resulted in a 90% successful removal of the tumor.
The procedure, which took about 10 minutes, was performed by Dr. Arschang Valipour at the Otto-Wagner-Spital Hospital in Vienna, Austria, on a patient diagnosed with colorectal cancer that metastasized in the lung, the company said. Tumor death was projected within three days after the procedure.
The InterVapor system uses heated water vapor to reduce the bronchoscopic lung volume in patients with heterogenous upper lobe emphysema.
"InterVapor is the only therapy with the promise of quick, simple, complete bronchoscopic ablation of lung tumor with margin," Valipour said in a statement. "The vapor followed the patient's anatomical boundaries and we successfully completed the first-in-human case without penetrating the tumor or puncturing adjacent healthy tissues, while creating a well defined and controlled margin within the lung."
Earlier this month, the company released data from a clinical study of its device that indicated significant improvements in lung function and quality of life in patients treated with the InverVapor system.
Lung cancer is considered the most common and deadliest of cancers on a global scale, with about 1.8 million new cases reported in 2012, and causing about 1.6 million deaths the same year, according to the World Health Organization.
- check out the Uptake release