Histotripsy
What is Histotripsy?
Histotripsy is a groundbreaking new form of non-invasive cancer treatment. It was first developed at the University of Michigan in 2004 and received FDA approval in October of 2023. MILV is bringing this procedure and its limitless potential to Pennsylvania by partnering with Histosonics. Histosonics – a company specializing in histotripsy – has developed the Edison Histotripsy System: a pioneering platform for image-guided sonic boom therapy. For histotripsy to be effective, lesions need to be visible via ultrasound. Edison uses a form of fusion technology to utilize CT or MRI imaging with the patient’s ultrasound, allowing our radiologists to safely treat discrete lesions.
Histotripsy is a 100% non-invasive, non-thermal, and non-ionizing ablation for hepatic tumors. High-amplitude, short-pulse sound waves are used to mechanically liquefy and destroy targeted cancerous tissue, while leaving the surrounding, healthy tissue intact. As the sound waves converge at a known focal point, the resulting high pressure causes extremely small, naturally occurring gas bubbles to expand, becoming many times larger than the surrounding cells. This creates a threshold effect, removing the targeted liver tissue while tending to preserve collagenous vessels and ducts. By disrupting the cancer cell’s outer membrane, histotripsy exposes antigens that enable the immune system to recognize and launch attacks on the remaining cancer cells. Histotripsy is performed using General Anesthesia to control the patient’s respiratory motion.
Candidates for the histotripsy procedure include patients who would not normally qualify for open surgery. Histotripsy can be beneficial to those with diabetes or heart conditions, those who are undergoing chemotherapy or who are on blood thinners. The noninvasive nature of histotripsy makes for a much less taxing overall process than open surgery. The entire procedure typically takes between just one and three hours to complete with the histotripsy process itself taking only 5-30 minutes. Most histotripsy patients are able to return home the same day as the procedure. Patients experience little to no pain and require minimal post-procedure recovery time. With no scars or incision wounds, the risk of infection is extremely low compared to most open surgeries.
Histotripsy is only currently FDA approved for the treatment of liver tumors. However, the #HOPE4KIDNEY clinical trial is currently in progress, with a goal of eventually providing treatment options for the pancreas, prostrate, thyroid, breast, and beyond.
Call 610-402-8759, select option 4 or call 835-210-4607 for more information!