X-Message-Number: 13249
Date: Sat, 12 Feb 2000 21:25:25 -0500
From: Jan Coetzee <>
Subject: Chinese Doctors freez tumor

Chinese Doctors Claim Cancer-Treatment Breakthrough

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese surgeons are declaring a breakthrough in
cancer treatment after
turning a patient's malignant tumor into a ball of ice, state media said
on Saturday.

Doctors at Xijing Hospital in the northwestern city of Xian inserted a
superconductive knife,
0.0788 inches in diameter, into the tumor of liver cancer patient,
Xinhua news agency said.

By forcing high-pressure argon and helium gas through the knife point,
they were able to lower
the temperature of the tumor to minus 220.

``In 60 seconds, the tumor became an ice ball,'' the article said,
adding ``all cancer cells were
killed.''

``The operation took only 30 minutes. The patient felt no pain and there
was no bleeding,'' it said.

``The therapy is a breakthrough in cancer treatment,'' it quoted Dou
Kefeng, a surgeon in charge of
the operation, as saying.

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