Dissolving tumours in 15 minutes

CUHK’s Faculty of Medicine has received Asia’s first Histotripsy 2.0 system as a donation from the Li Ka Shing Foundation (Foundation). The system will officially commence operations next year, focusing on liver cancer treatment in the beginning.

The Foundation is committed to sponsoring 10 patients to receive this novel treatment, while the medical faculty and the Prince of Wales Hospital (PWH) Charitable Foundation will support another 20 patients.

A CUHK-PWH clinical team has successfully applied the pioneering technology to treat a patient suffering from liver cancer, yielding good post-operative recovery and satisfactory efficacy. The team will commence clinical research aiming at expanding the application of Histotripsy to the treatment of prevalent cancers in Hong Kong, such as breast cancer.

Professor Dennis Lo, Li Ka Shing Professor of Medicine and CUHK’s next Vice-Chancellor, thanked Mr Li Ka-shing and the Foundation for their support. Mr Li remarked that this low-cost, highly effective and game-changing technology can tremendously lessen the financial burden on patients and their families, and reduce the burden of health care on the government coffers in our ageing society.

Histotripsy, invented by Professor Zhen Xu from the University of Michigan, employs high-intensity ultrasound waves to disrupt and liquefy targeted tumour cells. The actual Histotripsy treatment time takes as little as 10 to 15 minutes and does not damage surrounding vital tissues, making it a safe, non-invasive and highly effective option for targeted tumour destruction. In comparison to its predecessor, Histotripsy 2.0 offers enhanced efficiency in tumour ablation by delivering continuous and more accurate feedback throughout the ablation process.