It’s all about the bubbles. And these bubbles kill cancer.
Histotripsy uses a transducer—which converts electricity into sound—to deliver ultrasound waves to a malignant mass at a precise location. When the waves hit gasses inside cancerous cells, they generate clouds of tiny bubbles through a process known as cavitation.
Pulsing sound waves causes the millimeter-sized bubble clouds to repeatedly grow and collapse. The mechanical energy created breaks up the tumor cells’ structure, turning it into a harmless liquid called acellular lysate.
That means no scalpels or invasive procedures requiring long recovery times. It means avoiding lengthy, physically stressful treatments like chemotherapy and radiation.
The treatment is currently approved for liver tumors and data from successful histotripsy treatments in the #HOPEFORLIVER human trials continue to roll in. The results, published in Radiology in September, underscore the benefits histotripsy offers in comparison to traditional treatments.
Two additional trials are now underway. In January 2024, the first patient received kidney treatment with the Edison device in the #HOPEFORKIDNEY trial. In December 2024, patients began receiving treatment in Barcelona, Spain in a trial aimed at pancreatic tumors.
History
Charles Cain envisioned it as a “knife-less surgical approach.” The late professor of biomedical engineering and electrical engineering and computer science initiated the research into soundwave treatments at U-M and is generally considered the “father of histotripsy.”
He led a research team including Zhen Xu and Tim Hall that focused on using the heat generated by ultrasound to treat heart tissues. But the team eventually turned its attention to using those same sound waves to create cavitation.
In April, 2002, after weeks trying out combinations of amplitudes and frequencies to elicit the destruction of small sections of a pig heart—standing in for human tissue—Xu decided to try something new. She hooked her transducer up to an amplifier that no one else seemed to be using because it was too loud.
A lab partner quickly reaffirmed that the machine was, indeed, too loud. So Xu began operating it in the 20 kilohertz pulse repetition range, right above the range of human hearing.
She fired micropulses of soundwaves—super-short bursts—at amplitudes much higher than normal to keep the noise down. After a short time, she noticed a hole had appeared in the pig heart.
“We found that ultrasound somehow generated those holes,” she said. “Then we spent the next ten years trying to discover how it worked.”
HistoSonics
Founded in 2009 by University of Michigan engineers and doctors, HistoSonics has spearheaded the commercialization of histotripsy technology into the Edison System.
In its early years, HistoSonics received support from the U-M Coulter Translational Research Partnership Program, which specializes in helping researchers develop and commercialize healthcare products. The program provided consulting help and $300,000 for early testing.
After receiving FDA approval in October 2023 to begin treating liver tumors in humans, there are now 30 Edison systems in use around the U.S., as well as others in the United Arab Emirates and Hong Kong.
The company maintains strong ties to U-M. Based in Minneapolis, HistoSonics opened a 30,000-square-foot research and development center on Ann Arbor’s south side in October 2024.