DFINE Inc, the developer of minimally invasive radiofrequency (RF) targeted therapies for the treatment of vertebral pathologies, released results from two studies presented at the Society of Interventional Radiology’s Annual Scientific Meeting. Results from both studies underscore the benefits of advanced Targeted-Radiofrequency Ablation (t-RFA) therapy using the STAR Tumor Ablation System for the treatment of painful malignant lesions of the vertebral body.
The first presentation, titled “Image-guided targeted radiofrequency ablation (t-RFA) of spinal tumors using a novel bipolar navigational device: Multicenter initial clinical experience,” by Jack Jennings, MD, PhD, assistant professor of radiology and director of musculoskeletal and spine interventions at the Washington University School of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis, noted that the STAR System provided a significant clinical advantage by allowing access to spinal lesions not typically accessible with traditional ablative devices, and in many cases permitting treatment of individual lesions not controlled by systemic or radiation therapy.
In the second study, Robert Ryu, MD, professor of radiology of the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University and his co-authors used the STAR System to treat 13 lesions in 11 patients that failed conventional chemotherapy and radiation therapy, followed by injection of high-viscosity bone cement into the ablated tumor bed. All patients noted clinically significant pain relief, with a decrease in average VAS score from 8.9 pre-procedure to 2.7 four days after treatment. No treatment-related complications occurred during the follow-up period. These data are consistent with the large multicenter experience (Jennings et al), demonstrating palliative treatment alternatives for painful spinal metastatic lesions.
