Lee Health introduces cutting-edge liver cancer treatment

Oncologists at Lee Health have a new weapon in the fight against liver cancer. The Edison System is a noninvasive technology that destroys liver tumors without an incision.

The nonsurgical technology, called histotripsy, uses ultrasound pulses to target tumors under the guidance of a robotic arm, Lee Health said. The Fort Myers-based health care system is the first in Southwest Florida to offer the technology.

The procedure creates small bubbles that destroy tumor cells while helping protect the healthy tissue around them. Histotripsy is currently only Food and Drug Administration-approved for tumors in the liver but may also be used in the future for other types of cancer, including kidney and pancreas.

Surgical oncologist Dr. Mark Bloomston, who is leading the use of the Edison System at Lee Health’s Gulf Coast Medical Center, said the technology is a powerful complement to chemotherapy because it can precisely target tumors while protecting healthy blood vessels.

Bloomston said histotripsy presents an alternative option for patients who cannot undergo surgeries, for a number of reasons.

“This new technology allows us to be able to treat tumors in the liver, both malignant and benign, without doing anything invasive, that uses ultrasound that goes through the skin without the need for any needles or knives,” Bloomston said. “Those patients are going to be able to get treated as outpatients and usually go home after the procedure with very little discomfort and very low risk of complications.”

He said the procedure itself usually takes 20 minutes to an hour, depending on the size, location and number of tumors, with the entire process from admission to discharge lasting two to three hours.

Patients are put under general anesthesia in an operating room for the procedure.

“We have to find and identify the target tumor with our ultrasound device, plug all the information into the computer and draw what our plan’s going to be and then allow the robot to do the procedure. So that whole process takes between 2 and 3 hours,” Bloomston said.

He said most patients can complete the treatment in a single session, but it can be repeated if necessary.

“The beauty of this is that it can be repeated, and it won’t burn bridges for future therapies,” Bloomston said. “In some cases, we may plan to do multiple treatments across a period of time because [patients] have a lot of tumors or a large tumor, or something that’s close to an important vessel or bile duct. So, we may choose to do only partial tumors at a time and repeat it.”

Dr. Mark Roh, chief physician executive of the Lee Health Cancer Institute, said in the announcement that the health care system is “proud to offer histotripsy locally so that patients in our community and surrounding areas can access this important new treatment close to home … avoiding long drives for care, which makes a big difference in experience and recovery.”