Revolutionary procedure treats kidney cancer

METAIRIE, La. - A?Metairie man says he's lucky, even though he has a serious form of cancer.

First, he's lucky for the reason he initially went to the doctor, and second, because he lives right here in this area,?where a groundbreaking treatment was pioneered.

It's one of the most painful medical conditions: a kidney stone. But Joseph Davis Jr. never thought he would be happy he had one.

"About three months ago?I had a kidney stone.?I went to the hospital for a kidney stone and looking for the kidney stone they discovered?I had an aneurysm. And then looking at the aneurysm, they discovered?I had a mass on my kidney," Davis said.?

Two potentially fatal conditions that are silent, all found by coincidence during a?CT scan while looking for that kidney stone. Another scan confirmed the worst.

"I?went and had a?CT scan and it confirmed what everybody already knew - cancer,"?Davis said.?

Kidney cancer is correlated with smoking, high blood pressure and obesity. In the past kidney cancer had a high death rate because, with no symptoms, they would be found in late stages when the tumor was large or the cancer had spread to the lungs or bones.

"Kidney cancer is the seventh highest incidence of cancers in the United States. In fact,?incidence of kidney cancer has been increasing in the last?five to 10 years because of better imaging studies,?CT scans,?MRI, and ultrasounds that are able to pick up these masses on the kidney's at an earlier point," said Dr. Benjamin Lee,?a surgeon and professor of urology at?Tulane School of Medicine.

Joseph is one of the lucky 50 percent of kidney cancer patients who had a scan for another reason when the cancer was detected. So?Lee gave?Joseph the option to get rid of the cancer with a quick, more simple surgery he pioneered. Through one very small hole, right by the patient's belly button, Dr. Lee used special instruments that he helped develop and test. The instruments and camera went deep into?Joseph's abdomen and froze the kidney cancer. The?ice ball?kills only one small section of the organ.

"Cryosurgery has been done for prostate cancer treatment, it's been used for liver cancer and we've used this technology now to help men and women with kidney cancer," Lee said.?

Joseph was out of the hospital the next day and back to his normal routine within a week and living with?two, instead of one, kidney. This recovery is even faster than if it had been done with one with the four or five tiny incisions with robotics or?laparoscopic surgery.

"Through one incision, all this surgery can be done. The kidney can be exposed, the mass can be identified and biopsied and then treatment can be given all through that single incision," Dr. Lee notes.?

Now Joseph is cancer free.?

"Just coming in and one day having it done and coming home the next, that was the best part," Davis said with a smile.

Tulane was one of the first in the world to perform this type of surgery.

Lee will soon travel to?Germany to teach other surgeons how to do this procedure.