# Novel, Noninvasive, Rapid Tumor Ablation Technology using Histotripsy

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2021 · $581,540

## Abstract

Title: Novel, Noninvasive, Rapid Tumor Ablation Technology using Histotripsy
Abstract
Our goal is to develop a noninvasive ablation technique that can achieve rapid, homogeneous tumor ablation
with the ability to overcome the limitations of current tumor interventions. Many cancer patients are not eligible
for surgery. Existing minimally invasive and non-invasive tumor interventions have significant limitations that
prevent them from being effective at treating tumors near major vessels, large tumors (>3 cm diameter), or
tumors with multiple (>3) nodules. Histotripsy is a non-invasive ultrasound ablation technique that produces
cavitation to disrupt the target tissue with millimeter precision. Our previous in vivo studies in normal tissues
and tumor models have shown 1) homogenous, complete cellular disruption in targeted areas without
damaging the overlying tissue, 2) ability to treat tissue adjacent to large vessels, 3) ability to treat ~5 cm
diameter tumors within one hour, 4) real-time treatment monitoring with ultrasound imaging, and 5) potential of
complete tumor ablation without residual tumor, recurrence, or new metastasis. Further, our recent results
show that histotripsy combined with electrical focal steering completely fractionated ~32 mL (~4cm diameter)
ex vivo bovine liver within 10 min, more than twice the rate than any current non-surgical intervention method.
These results suggest that histotripsy has the potential to significantly improve upon existing tumor intervention
methods. For this proposal, the specific aims focus on technical advancements to allow histotripsy to overcome
the limitations of current tumor intervention methods with liver cancer as the first target clinical application. The
four aims are: 1) develop an electronic focal steering strategy and parameters to achieve rapid (>5mL/min),
homogenous ablation of large (>3cm) and multiple (>3) volumes safely through overlying tissue; 2) develop a
motion tracking method to achieve rapid and accurate treatment in the presence of breathing motion; 3) design
and construct an integrated ultrasound image-guided histotripsy ablation system for human liver cancer
patients; and 4) test the in vivo safety and efficacy of the techniques and device from Aims 1-3 for complete
liver tumor ablation in a large animal (porcine) liver model and a woodchuck liver tumor model. The proposed
technical improvements and the integrated liver ablation system, all validated in vivo, will be essential to
advance histotripsy towards future clinical translation to treat liver tumors and could be extended to many other
tumor types, including tumors in the kidney, prostate, pancreas, and uterus.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10070583
- **Project number:** 5R01CA211217-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Zhen Xu
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $581,540
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2018-01-09 → 2022-12-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10070583

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10070583, Novel, Noninvasive, Rapid Tumor Ablation Technology using Histotripsy (5R01CA211217-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10070583. Licensed CC0.

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