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Review
. 2024 Mar 5;86(4):2081-2087.
doi: 10.1097/MS9.0000000000001897. eCollection 2024 Apr.

Histotripsy: an innovative approach for minimally invasive tumour and disease treatment

Muhammad Faheem Iqbal  1 , Muhammad Ashir Shafique  2 , Moosa Abdur Raqib  3 , Tagwa Kalool Fadlalla Ahmad  4 , Abdul Haseeb  2 , Abdulhadi M A Mhjoob  5 , Adarsh Raja  6
Affiliations
Review

Histotripsy: an innovative approach for minimally invasive tumour and disease treatment

Muhammad Faheem Iqbal et al. Ann Med Surg (Lond). .

Abstract

Histotripsy is a noninvasive medical technique that uses high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to treat liver tumours. The two main histotripsy methods are boiling histotripsy and cavitation cloud histotripsy. Boiling histotripsy uses prolonged ultrasound pulses to create small boiling bubbles in the tissue, which leads to the breakdown of the tissue into smaller subcellular fragments. Cavitation cloud histotripsy uses the ultrasonic cavitation effect to disintegrate target tissue into precisely defined liquefied lesions. Both methods show similar treatment effectiveness; however, boiling histotripsy ensures treatment stability by producing a stable boiling bubble with each pulse. The therapeutic effect is ascribed to mechanical damage at the subcellular level rather than thermal damage. This article discusses the mechanisms, treatment parameters, and potential of histotripsy as a minimally invasive procedure that provides precise and controlled subcellular damage.

Keywords: FDA; boiling histotripsy; cavitation cloud histotripsy; complications; food and drug administration; high-intensity focused ultrasound; histotripsy; liver; tumour; ultrasonic cavitation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest concerning the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.Sponsorships or competing interests that may be relevant to content are disclosed at the end of this article.

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