Fifty-seven-thousand people will be told they have kidney cancer this year -- 12,000 of them will die from it. Now doctors are microwaving the cancer to kill it -- and keep it from coming back.

Even though Louis Bershad owns more than 1,500 films, the Hollywood talent manager was not ready for the plot change in his own story.

"He just picked up the MRI and looked at it and said it's definitely cancer, and when he said that, the meeting became a silent movie. I could see his lips moving, but I heard nothing. It was absolute silence," Bershad said.

Bershad had kidney cancer. Surgery scared him, so Dr. Peter Julien gave him the option of microwaving the tumor.

"It basically cooks the tumor to death," said Julien, chief of thoracic imaging at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Microwaving tumors or radio-frequency ablation uses a needle that's inserted into the middle of the tumor. Guided by CT scans, doctors use electrical currents to heat the tumor.

"The energy that's delivered to the tumor is right at the needle tip. It's very intense energy that can heat up the tumor -- over 150 degrees. It can heat up the tumor basically to boiling," Julien said.

Doctors say there's no incision, minimal to no damage to surrounding organs and patients can go home the same day.

"The best ending -- the best ending you could have. Ending is a bad word. Let's just say the film is over, but the life goes on," Bershad said.

Bershad is back to his job in Hollywood, only now, he has a new favorite film.

"The best film of all is when you get your MRI from your doctor and he says there's no cancer. That's the best film I've ever seen," Bershad said.

The radiofrequency ablation procedure is also being used for cancers of the liver and lungs. This is a good option for patients who are not healthy enough or too old for surgery.

BACKGROUND: Radiofrequency Tumor Ablation (RFA) is a minimally-invasive procedure used to treat small liver, lung, kidney and bone tumors. During RFA, an interventional radiologist carefully guides an ablation needle into the center of the tumor using ultrasound or CT guidance. The probe is connected to a radiofrequency generator that delivers alternating electrical current (radiofrequency energy) to the tumor, producing heat of up to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. This causes cancerous cells to shrink and die, while healthy tissue is spared because the probe cools as it is removed.

"The energy that's delivered to the tumor is right at the needle tip," said Peter Julien, M.D., Chief of Thoracic Imaging at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Calif.. "It's very intense energy that can heat up the tumor over 150 degrees. It can heat up the tumor basically to boiling."

The procedure requires only local anesthesia and avoids the scars and complications associated with traditional open surgery. Because RFA involves no cutting, it is also a viable option for patients previously thought to be too old or sick to withstand surgery.

RFA For Kidney Cancer: In adults, the most common type of kidney cancer is renal cell carcinoma, which begins in the cells that line the small tubes within the kidney. According to the Kidney Cancer Association, renal cell carcinoma affects more than 32,000 people per year, and the exact cause of the disease is unknown. It is most common in people between 50 and 70 years old, affecting men more often than women.

Typically, surgical removal of kidney tumors has been the standard of care for kidney cancers. The surgery usually results in hospital stays of seven to 10 days and postoperative recovery time of six to eight weeks. By comparison, results from RFA were equivalent to surgery, with typically no hospital stay. There's also no incision and minimal or no damage to surrounding tissue, and RFA allows for the kidney to be preserved. RFA also avoids postoperative complications such as pain, pneumonia, injury to organs and scars.

Doctors say the procedure is still new and more data are needed; however, survival rates from RFA are comparable to those of radical or partial nephrectomies. Surgeons say it may offer hope for patients with liver cancer as well.

Additional Information: Nilou Salimpour
Media Relations
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
(310) 292-6536