Frequently Asked Questions

Whether or not you need to stay overnight in the hospital after the procedure depends on several factors, including whether you are experiencing any pain and how you feel overall.

The doctor will decide based on your individual situation.

Yes. Currently, there are no contraindications with other treatments. Histotripsy has been used before, after or in combination with other procedures. The decision to incorporate histotripsy and the potential impact on future clinical decisions should be discussed with your physician.

If you are eligible to be treated with histotripsy, you will be scheduled for an outpatient ultrasound screening evaluation of your liver before the actual histotripsy treatment.

This evaluation is done to make sure that your liver tumor(s) can be accurately targeted and safely treated with histotripsy. If this evaluation confirms that your tumor(s) can be treated with histotripsy, you will be scheduled for treatment.

• On the day of your histotripsy treatment, you will be asked to avoid food or drinks for 8 hours prior to treatment.
• On arrival, you will meet an anesthesiologist and nurse.

The active histotripsy time will vary depending on the size and location of your tumor. In our #HOPE4LIVER Trial the mean histotripsy treatment time per tumor was 34 +/- 24 minutes. Histotripsy treatment times have been reduced since the #HOPE4LIVER Trial. The full procedure time usually ranges from 1-3 hours but some could be longer depending on a variety of factors, including the number of tumors being treated.

Most procedures will be performed on an outpatient basis, allowing you to return home the same or following day. One month after treatment, you will have a contrast enhanced CT or MRI scan to evaluate the treated tumor(s).

Currently, all sites are using general anesthesia to perform the procedure. Histotripsy is a highly precise treatment; general anesthesia is primarily used to control patient movement during the procedure rather than to manage the pain.

The active histotripsy time will vary depending on the size and location of your tumor. In our #HOPE4LIVER Trial, the mean histotripsy procedure time was 34 + / – 24 minutes. Histotripsy treatment times have been reduced since the #HOPE4LIVER Trial. The full procedure time usually ranges from 1-3 hours but some could be longer depending on a variety of factors, including the number of tumors being treated.

Medicare should cover the procedure if it is reasonable and necessary. However, it will be necessary to have your selected histotripsy provider verify coverage with private insurance. As a new treatment option, treatment coverage and payment are still being established with the different insurance companies.

Any patient with liver tumors might be a candidate for histotripsy. Consult your physician or use our doctor locator tool to find an experienced healthcare professional who offers histotripsy treatment near you to determine if histotripsy may be right for you.

The histotripsy procedure is typically performed under general anesthesia so you should not experience pain during the procedure.

You may feel some pain after treatment depending on the area treated, but there are no incision wounds, and many times you can return to normal activities quickly.

In our #HOPE4LIVER Trial, the most common adverse device effects were abdominal pain, procedural pain and fever.

Histotripsy has been studied in laboratories for over 20 years with clinical trials beginning in 2018. In a clinical trial conducted in 2019, it was used to successfully in humans to destroy liver tumors ¹.

The #HOPE4LIVER trials demonstrated successful use of histotripsy in patients with primary and metastatic tumors in the liver in the US and EU^2,3.

1 THERESA Trial, 2019. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03741088

2 #HOPE4LIVER US https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04572633

3 #HOPE4LIVER EU https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04573881