Professor David Morris and Ms Julie King

Most significant advances or findings in past 10yrs

Most important aspects of current work

• Other important work we have conducted has been treating patients with unresectable liver metastases from the rare neuroendocrine cancer, which patients can have safely for some years, but which when spread to the liver results in morbidity and death. Studies we have conducted treat patients with NETLM and also liver metastases from CRC which are very common. Treatment is by radioactive embolisation with microspheres,( SIR Spheres was used at St George Hospital.)
• Both RFA using and Radioactive embolisation with SIR Spheres treatments have been proven to be effective in prolonging life, helping individual patients maintain their quality of life and importantly for the community, cost less than many other treatments such as surgery or chemotherapy.
• In the case of RFA, where Derek Glenn has been doing almost one case per week for 7 years in the Radiology Dept, the cost is half that of surgery, the average admission is 2 days and our success rate even with multiple lesions is 40%.
• There is no medical benefit item for treatment with RFA. Our unit (and Derek Glenn as the practitioner) has the most documented experience and literature of RFA in Australia.
• Treatment for radioembolisation for SIR Spheres has to be paid for by the patient or provided by Sirtex on compassionate grounds. Sirtex provided tratment gratis for Liver Unit studies but no other financial aid. When PBS items were provided for both public and private patients in 2006 our unit was requested by the hospital to stop treating patients. Since then all patients who are judged to benefit from this treatment with SIR Spheres are sent to St Vincent's Hospital to be treated by its Radiology Dept.
• Treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma: Hepatocellular carcinoma or hepatoma is the most common cancer in males worldwide. It is also one of the most deadly with most patients not living for more than six months after the diagnosis. The only chance of cure in these patients is with surgery but this is only possible in about 15% of patients.
• The Department of Surgex ry has been developing several new ways to treat this cancer by injecting highly radioactive materials directly into the tumours and killing the cancer cells without harming the liver itself. This is radiotherapy at the cellular level. Far more radiation can be delivered by this technique than with conventional techniques of shining X-ray beams externally onto the cancer.

Recent publications