UCI Health launches innovative program to treat liver cancer

UCI Health launches innovative program to treat liver cancer

First patients treated with noninvasive ultrasound therapy

Orange, Calif. - The UCI Health Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center is the first National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center in California to offer a novel technology using highly focused sound waves to precisely destroy liver tumors in a single outpatient procedure.

On Sept. 10, Dr. Nadine Abi-Jaoudeh and her UCI Health interventional radiology team used the noninvasive ultrasound technology, called the Edison histotripsy system, to treat the first patients at UCI Medical Center, part of UCI Health.

"So far, patients treated with histotripsy have had metastatic disease originating from various organs, including the colon, thymus and pancreas, with most of the tumor burden confined to the liver," said Abi-Jaoudeh.

"This treatment was used to remove most of the tumor along with systemic therapy in some of the patients. In other patients who had limited liver lesions or had failed systemic therapy, it was the sole treatment."

Ultrasound imaging has long been used to locate and target tumors as well as determine the volume of tissue to be treated. Now, physicians use that data to program the histotripsy robot to generate precisely focused ultrasound waves targeting otherwise unresectable liver tumors. Those waves create a bubble cloud inside the tumor that disrupts and destroys only the cancerous tissue.

"This technology is unique in that it preserves surrounding healthy liver tissue as well as critical blood vessels and other structures that support normal liver function even if they are inside the tumor or in the path of the ultrasound beams," Abi-Jaoudeh said.

"Histotripsy liquifies the cancer tissue without using heat or radiation and without any damage to healthy cells," she added. "It is completely noninvasive, without even a needle puncture."

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the treatment to be marketed for clinical use in October 2023. Authorization was based, in part, on data from the #HOPE4LIVER clinical trials in 13 sites across the United States and Europe.

UCI Health and the team at the cancer center - the only comprehensive center designated by the National Cancer Institute based in Orange County - were eager to acquire the histotripsy system to be able to treat liver cancer patients whose tumors cannot be removed surgically.

"Due to its noninvasive nature, this treatment can be offered to patients who would not be eligible for conventional interventions because of co-morbidities or the advanced stage of their cancer," said Abi-Jaoudeh, chief of the Division of Interventional Radiology in the UC Irvine School of Medicine's Department of Radiological Sciences. "It also may hold promise in conjunction with systemic therapies."

Because it is an outpatient procedure, most patients can return home the same day with minimal discomfort and quickly return to normal activities, she added.

"We're excited to offer our patients this new option for treating liver cancer tumors."

For more information about the histotripsy procedure or to schedule a consultation, please call us at 833-456-2788.

Related stories

• UCI Health first in region to use new CT imaging technology ›
• UCI Health celebrates state-of-the-art Outpatient Imaging Center with ribbon-cutting ceremony ›
• Second cancer center in Orange County triples space for latest, most innovative treatments ›

About UCI Health

UCI Health, one of California's largest academic health systems, is the clinical enterprise of the University of California, Irvine. The system comprises its main campus UCI Medical Center, a 459-bed, acute care hospital in Orange, Calif., four hospitals and affiliated physicians of the UCI Health Community Network in Orange and Los Angeles counties and ambulatory care centers across the region. Recognized as a Top Hospital by The Leapfrog Group, UCI Medical Center provides tertiary and quaternary care and is home to Orange County's only National Cancer Institute-designated comprehensive cancer center, high-risk perinatal/neonatal program and American College of Surgeons-verified Level I adult and Level II pediatric trauma center, gold level 1 geriatric emergency department and regional burn center. UCI Health serves a region of nearly 4 million people in Orange County, western Riverside County and southeast Los Angeles County. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.