Applied Physics Seminar: "Histotripsy: Image-guided Ultrasound Therapy for Non-invasive Surgery"

Abstract: Can physics be used to perform a surgery without incision or bleeding? “Histotripsy” is the first non-invasive, non-ionizing, and non-thermal ablation technique that is invented by Dr. Xu and her colleagues. The underlying mechanism of histotripsy is based on a physical phenomenon termed acoustic cavitation. Using ultrasound pulses applied from outside the body and focused to the target diseased tissue, histotripsy produces a cluster of energetic microbubbles at the target tissue using the endogenous gas pockets with millimeter accuracy. These cavitation microbubbles, each similar in size to individual cells, produces very high strain and stress to function as “mini-scalpels” to mechanically fractionate cells to acellular debris in the target tissue. The acellular debris is absorbed over time via metabolism, resulting in effective tissue removal. Off-target tissue remains undamaged and no incision is needed. Thus, histotripsy can perform non-invasive surgery guided by real-time imaging. Dr. Xu will talk about the physics (acoustic cavitation) behind histotripsy, instrumentation development, and the latest pre-clinical and clinical studies of histotripsy for cancer, neurological, and immunotherapy applications.