Histotripsy: A revolutionary non-invasive treatment for liver cancer

Cancer disrupts people's lives, but the treatment to make patients cancer-free shouldn’t. That’s why Allina Health Cancer Institute, in keeping with its commitment to compassionate, cutting-edge cancer care, offers histotripsy, an incisionless procedure that helps patients return to their lives and loved ones with minimal disruption.

Histotripsy is cutting-edge technology — without the cut. AHCI is proud to be the first in the Twin Cities area to treat Stage IV liver tumors with this pioneering new treatment.

Dr. Zhen Xu, the University of Michigan PhD whose research led to this new process, says she believes histotripsy has the ability to make “the impossible possible.”

What is histotripsy?

Histotripsy is a safe, effective, new treatment that is already changing the way we treat liver tumors. This outpatient, incisionless medical procedure does not use chemicals, heat or scalpels. It is another tool in our fight against cancer.

“Histo” means “soft tissue,” and “tripsy” means “breaking down.” Our expert providers use imaging to precisely target liver tumors in real time, then use controlled, pulsed ultrasound waves to break them down. Once the tumor material is liquified, it passes through your system like any other waste.

How does histotripsy work?

Histotripsy uses a technology you’re likely familiar with: Ultrasound, the same technology we use to see fetuses in utero, and as a diagnostic tool for many health conditions.

During histotripsy, the provider diagrams the exact location and dimensions of liver tumor(s) through real-time imaging. Once the controls are dialed in, the provider is able to treat the liver tumor with concentrated ultrasound waves.

These waves initiate a naturally occurring mechanical process called “cavitation.” During cavitation, a cloud of gas bubbles expands and collapses quickly, creating a controllable energy that destroys the tumor down to the subcellular level.

This process does not damage the surrounding area the way traditional chemicals, heat, or surgical tools — the standard methods current cancer-fighting tools use — might. This increases the safety of the procedure and improves recovery time. Most people go home the same day and most report little downtime.

What is the success rate of histotripsy for treating liver cancer?

Histotripsy is only FDA-approved for liver tumors, though it’s showing early promise for a host of medical conditions. Histotripsy can treat specific types of liver cancer, or tumors that have metastasized, or spread, to the liver. Where some tumors have previously been declared inoperable, histotripsy may now make it a treatment option.

It’s still fairly early in the treatment process to know what the success rate will be long-term for liver cancer patients. But early trials show histotripsy is effective.

For example, the HOPE4LIVER clinical trial reported that 95.5 percent of people who underwent histotripsy saw total ablation of the targeted tumor within a day and a half.

At one year, the survival rate was 73.3 percent for patients with the most common form of liver cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). For those with metastatic cancer, that rate was 48.6 percent. After one year, tumor control was similar to patients at the same stage of cancer who used other therapies. In a separate study, researchers found histotripsy was widely well tolerated, and complications were few.

Overall, that’s a significant vote of confidence that this breakthrough technology is not only safe and effective, but also offers all of us an optimistic look into the future in the fight against liver cancer.