New noninvasive cancer treatment offers hope in Louisiana

METAIRIE, La. — Louisiana has one of the highest rates of liver cancer in the country. Some doctors estimate it is 50 percent higher than the national average.

But now there is new hope for patients with a first-of-its-kind, noninvasive treatment, and this area is among the first using it.

Louise Jeter spent her career as a teacher helping students learn to read. Around 13-years ago, she had her routine screening colonoscopy, and it’s good she did. The doctor found something very rare and called her.

“Oh my gosh! I was at work and he just, it was like a bomb had dropped, because I totally thought I was OK,” said Louise Jeter, 77, of Baton Rouge.

Neuroendocrine cancer is less than 1 percent of all malignant disorders in the U.S. 

It’s cancer of the specialized cells throughout the body that secrete hormones into the bloodstream. What followed was two surgeries, radiation, and chemotherapy, because it had spread.

“Chemo was hard on you. There’s just nothing nice about it for 14 months. So, it was harsh. It’s a harsh treatment,” she remembers.

While her cancer is slow growing, doctors discovered it had spread to the liver. So, she turned to new technology in cancer care at Omega Hospital in Metairie.

“We have been treating primary and secondary tumors in the liver with a lot of different types of techniques,” explained surgical oncologist Dr. Mary Maluccio, the Medical Director of the Histotripsy Program at Omega Hospital. “It’s just this is the first one that’s coming out that just doesn’t have almost any downside to it.” 

It’s called histotripsy. 

It’s a non-invasive and painless procedure that takes around 10 to 30 minutes, using pulsed high frequency ultrasound aimed at the tumor. 

Since it doesn’t heat the tumor, it doesn’t damage the healthy tissues around it. It’s approved in the U.S. right now for liver tumors, Dr. Maluccio says on the horizon is treating tumors in the kidney, then prostate, breast, and pancreas. She’d like to one day see it used in head and neck cancers.

Omega Hospital was one of the first dozen places in the U.S. to get the histotripsy machine and now there are only about three dozen in the whole country.

“We’ve heard numerous calls from the ones who’ve had it. It’s helped their cancer markers,” said hand surgeon Dr. Eric George who is the Omega Hospital Board Chairman. “It’s changed their life. They used to have to travel really far to get this new revolutionary treatment and now they can do it right here.” 

While the procedure won’t replace surgery and other treatments in all cases, it could help shrink a tumor enabling surgery to have a better result. 

“They actually have an option, and to have an option that does not come with some of the down sides, I think is an amazing improvement in the types of things we’re able to offer patients,” said Dr. Maluccio.

This is not a cure for Louise, but with her tumor gone, she is getting relief from the side effects caused by the hormones coming from the tumor.

“Oh, it’s given me lots of hope, and it’s given me lots of hope for other people,” said Jeter.

Alcohol, diets high in red meat, and jobs that expose workers to air pollutants, put people at higher risk for liver cancer.

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