Baylor Health Care SystemAbout B

Imaging & Radiology

Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas

Dallas Medical Imaging Radiology 
Need something? Call us: 1.800.4BAYLOR(1.800.422.9567)
Text Size:
Share This Page |

NanoKnife®  

Advances in Minimally Invasive Cancer Treatment

Download & Print NanoKnife® Patient Forms

Interventional Radiology at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas offers treatment with the NanoKnife®, the first treatment tool to use irreversible electroporation (IRE). IRE is a therapy performed on the inside of the body using rods to put out radiation to a targeted area while leaving the surrounding structures untouched and living. The NanoKnife can be used for both primary tumors and metastatic disease (disease that spreads from one part of the body to another) in the kidney, liver, lung and metastatic deposits.

What to Expect

Guided by ultrasound or CT images, a physician on the medical staff at Baylor Dallas places small IRE rods in or around the lesion. The rods then send out a series of short, intense electric pulses that irreversibly damage the cells in the targeted zone and they die. The body begins its natural healing process, producing new cells that surround and remove the dead ones, and growing new tissue to fill in the space left behind after the dead lesion has been carried away.

The procedure is done under general anesthesia, and most patients experience little pain or bleeding afterwards.

Potential Benefits of the NanoKnife

Patients should discuss the particular risks and benefits of NanoKnife with their physician, but potential benefits of the NanoKnife may include:

  • Blood vessels, ducts and other delicate body structures near the targeted radiation zone remain untouched and living, making the NanoKnife an effective tool for treating areas of the body considered inoperable or where radiation is not recommended.
  • IRE treatment using the NanoKnife can be done minimally invasive or surgically, and is performed under general anesthesia with ultrasound or CT scan guidance.
  • Treatment usually requires only a brief hospital stay – some patients can go home the same day. Because it generally causes few side effects or little scarring, NanoKnife treatments can be repeated if new lesions develop.

For a physician referral on the medical staff at Baylor Dallas call 1.800.4BAYLOR.