Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

Pivotal Success in NPC Treatment The Clinical Trials Unit of the Department of Clinical Oncology introduced a new combined treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) to replace the mainstay treatment, radiotherapy. The new treatment is proven to greatly enhance the survival rates of patients diagnosed with advanced NPC. The unit conducted a randomized trial for 350 patients between 1994 and 1999 to compare the treatment outcomes of combined chemotherapy and standard radiotherapy to that of radiotherapy alone in advanced NPC at the Prince of Wales Hospital and Queen Elizabeth Hospital. The study demonstrated that the new combined treatment is well tolerated by the patients and there is a r educ t i on in the development of metastases, resulting in an improved survival rate. Researchers are now examining the use of additional chemotherapy administration before the combined treatment to achieve even better results. Treating Liver Cancer with Microwave Liver cancer is the number two cancer killer in Hong Kong. Ninety per cent o f the patients diagnosed with the disease cannot be treated with liver resection, the preferred treatment of the disease, due to unfavourable tumour location or poor liver function. For such patients, local ablative therapy may be most suitable ， for it can eradicate the tumour without causing damage to the rest of the liver. Liver before (left) and after (right) therapy The Faculty of Medicine has pioneered the introduction o f a new form of local ablative therapy—heat treatment, or m i c r owa v e coagulation therapy, to trea t liver cancer i n Hong Kong. Making use of the fact that cancer cells disintegrate at 45 ° C, electrodes are placed through the skin into the tumour to heat it up and destroy it. The therapy offers reliable and precise local ablation of liver cancer. It can be performed under local anaesthesia and requires only one to two treatment sessions. Treatment time is relatively short—about five minutes at each treatment spot. A nd apart f r om heat generation, microwave does not produce an y physical effects within the human body. In a joint clinical research carried out i n the Prince of Wales Hospital and the Chinese PLA General Hospital in Beijing, the five-year survival rate of 189 patients who have received such microwave treatment reaches 59 per cent. State-of-the-art Heart Machine The Cardiac Division of the Department of Medicine and Therapeutics has installed the most advanced cardiac ultrasound machine currently available, a SONOS 5500. The machine ， a generous donation f r om the Convocation of the University, w i ll immensely boost the research activities and service provision in the division. The machine helps doctors see easily and clearly the heart muscles, valves, and even the blood flow in the major coronary arteries and heart wall movement. It is particularly useful for assessing patients who have undergone heart valve surgery. It can also be used to identify the causes of arterial disease in the Chinese population, for, w i th it, doctors can detect the thickness of the arterial wall, cardiac malfunction and disorders, abnormal motion due to shortage of oxygen supply to the heart muscle, and the effect of various treatments. The machine was officially presented to the Cardiac D i v i s i on at a p r esen t a t i on ceremony held on 19th October 2000 at the Prince of Wales Hospital. Chinese University Bulletin Spring • Summer 2001 62