Clemencia Aguinaldo from Philippine with Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

On December 12, 2015, Ms. Clemencia from Philippine looks great in the khaki’s woolen coat. Before she was discharged, she and her daughter shook hands with Dr. Niu Lizhi, president of Fuda Cancer Hospital in farewell. She said gratefully, “I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Niu, without whom I might be still tortured by cancer...” Liu Hongyun, head of the nursing group of third ward found it even harder to say goodbye to them. She embraced them tightly and sent her best wishes. The scene was really moving.

A photo of the patient (in the middle) and medical workers

Clemencia is 69 years old this year. She told the reporter that she had always been in good health until July 2010 when she found a mass in the right lower neck. She received examination at a local hospital and was found to have right undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Her condition showed no remission after operation and daily treatment. Later on, a fellow townsman told her that Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital in China has been delivering good therapeutic effects for patients and many people have sought treatment over there. Clemecia decided to give it a try for fear that her condition would aggravate.

In September 2010, she headed for Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital with her daughter. She was surprised to learn that medical workers at FUDA should have arranged airport pick-up service for them. Clemecia said, “FUDA has been very considerate in taking care of foreign patients.”

With the assistance of medical workers at FUDA, Clemencia went through admission formalities in no time. Patient completed relevant examinations after admission. The admitting diagnosis was “multiple solid masses are detected in right neck, which were considered to be enlarged lymph nodes; nasopharyngeal carcinoma with lymph node metastases in right neck; right thyroid nodule.” The expert medical team led by Dr. Niu Lizhi discussed and finalized the treatment plan as argon-helium cryosurgery for her on the basis of the examination result.

Dr. Niu Lizhi introduced that Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital became the first hospital in mainland China to have introduced argon-helium cryosurgery since its initiation in 2001. The biggest advantages of argon-helium cryosurgery lie in its complete destruction of tumor, prevention of tumor metastases, painless treatment process and exemption of body trauma.

Clemencia showed great satisfaction to the treatment plan and her willingness to cooperate with treatment.

On September 15, 2010, Clemencia underwent argon-helium cryosurgery at Guangzhou Fuda Cancer Hospital. She felt much better after the procedure. She also underwent two cycles of interventional chemotherapy on October 12 and November 1 respectively. She showed improved condition and was discharged.

Later, Clemencia underwent another three cycles of interventional chemotherapy at Fuda Cancer Hospital on December 2010, January 2011, and February 2011 respectively.

After she went back to Philippine, Clemencia received many times of examinations at local hospital and no evidence of tumor recurrence was ever found. Some of her friends were so surprised to see her in such good condition, saying, “You look so energetic and doesn’t look like a cancer patient at all”. Clemecia was really glad to hear that. She said her condition has improved significantly and she is totally fit after treatment at Fuda Cancer Hospital.

In December 2015, Clemencia come back to FUDA once again for re-examination and DC-CIK immunotherapy. She told the reporter that she now has good quality of sleep and good spirit every day. And she has resumed her living habit before she got sick. She takes a walk every day as walking is her favorite sport. She once again expressed her thanks to medical workers at FUDA for helping her regain a healthy life.

A photo of (from left to right) the patient’s daughter, the patient, Liu Hongyun, head of the nursing group of third ward, the patient’s husband (during hospitalization)

A photo of (from left to right) the patient, patient’s daughter, Liu Hongyun, head of the nursing group of third ward on December 12, 2015

A photo of (from Left to right) the patient, patient’s daughter, Liu Hongyun, head of nursing group of third ward on December 12, 2015

TIPS：

Cryosurgical Ablation (CSA)

As a new treatment for cancer, cryosurgery has been approved by the United States FDA (Food and Drug Administration in 1998 and China FDA in 1999 respectively. China has been taking a lead in the world both in terms of cryosurgery cases and treated types of cancer. Since the introduction of cryosurgery in 2000, Fuda Cancer Hospital has carried out 5,000 cases of cryosurgery for 34 types of cancer, taking a leading position both at home and abroad.

Principle

Cryosurgery is an important ablation technique for tumors. The fundamental principle of cryosurgery is as follows. The temperature of cancerous tissue falls to below -160℃rapidly and then raises to normal temperature. The process can lead to dehydration and rupture of cancer cells or destruction of small tumor blood vessels that would lead to tumor cell death. Dead cancerous tissues in situ after cryosurgery can elicits an immunologic reaction as antigens; cancer cells after cryosurgery are more sensitive to chemotherapy or cryosurgery, hence the effectiveness of chemotherapy or radiotherapy is enhanced.

Cryosurgery can be carried out during open surgery, under the guidance of endoscopy or through percutaneous puncture, among percutaneous cryosurgery is most commonly used.

Advantages

1. Cryosurgery is a localized medical procedure. It can be used as the sole means of cancer treatment or it can be combined with other conventional treatment techniques such as surgical operation, chemotherapy, radiotherapy.

2. Combining cryosurgery with excision can be advantageous since freezing the tumor before excision minimizes the risk of spreading the cancerous cells during excision.

3. In addition to sparing healthy tissue, cryosurgery is advantageous because it is not dose-limited can be repeated as necessary in order to destroy all cancerous tissue.

4. In situations where the tumor is not removed after freezing, especially percutaneous cryosurgery, operative blood loss is small and post-surgical discomfort is minimized.

5. Cryoprobes are relatively small (generally in the range of 24 mm in diameter) and therefore they may be used in minimally invasive surgical procedures.

6. There are no major side effects which are commonly found in chemotherapy or radiotherapy.

7. Cryosurgery is adaptable for treatment of tumor close to large vessel which cannot be removed by operation.

8. Cryosurgery can treat small as well as large tumors, and solitary as well as multiple tumors.

9. Cryosurgery not only destroys neoplasms locally, but it also elicits an immunologic reaction (cryoimmunologic reaction) against cancer.

10. It produces a synergy effect to combine cryosurgery with radiotherapy or chemotherapy.

11. There is evidence that the recurrence rate of cancer after cryosurgery is lower than that of operation.

Indications:

Nearly all parenchymal cancers are prime candidates for cryoablation. They include liver cancer, ling cancer, kidney cancer, ovarian cancer, pharyngeal cancer, testicular cancer, uterine tumor, vaginal cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, sarcoma and other benign or malignant lesions of bone, prostate cancer, skin cancer and melanoma, head and neck cancer and soft tissue tumor of various kinds and etc. In addition, cryosurgery can be an effective treatment for retinoblastoma, skin basal cell carcinoma or squamous cell carcinomas, actinic keratosis and cervical intraepithelial neoplasia.