The first surgeries in Poland using Echolaser, an innovative device combining two technologies: ultrasound and laser, have been carried out in Lower Silesia, in Regional Specialist Hospital in Wroclaw. The device was brought to Poland thanks to the co-operation of MED&CARE from Gdynia and Italian Elesta, which is the manufacturer of Echolaser.
Three surgeries during which patients with thyroid, prostate and liver tumours were operated on, were carried out by Polish-Italian teams of surgeons as part of the scientific and training conference “Application of microinvasive thin-needle therapy with the use of Echolaser for surgery of soft tissue tumours, including thyroid, prostate, and liver”.
The first surgery was performed on a female patient in her seventies with malignant liver cancer. The procedure was carried out by a team led by an Italian surgeon, Giovanni Giuseppe Di Constanzo M.D. The patient was conscious throughout the operation with only local anaesthetic applied. Shortly after the procedure the patient was able to function normally.
– Using Echolaser in this case was the best possible way to help the patient. (…) six laser fibres were used to destroy all tissue, which was cancerous tissue in this case – explained professor Wojciech Witkiewicz, Director of the Regional Specialist Hospital.
The second surgery was a procedure on thyroid co-ordinated by an Italian specialist, doctor Giovanni Mauri. The last of the planned procedures was a surgery of a benign prostate tumour which was carried out under the supervision of Gianluigi Patelli M.D.
How does surgery using Echolaser work? This technique involves destroying cancer tissues using needles less than 0.8 mm in diameter (these needles are tolerated well by patients). The technology allows for using from one to a few applicators at the same time, offering the possibility of treatment of lesions of significant size. Ultrasound makes it possible to monitor the size and precise location of the tumour on the screen, and then to precisely remove the lesion in difficult to access places by using a laser beam which burns out tumours. Laser energy is tolerated well by the body and the procedure has a low risk of complications.
