ANN ARBOR – HistoSonics announced Tuesday the first treatment of a patient with BPH using its Vortx RX device at the University of Michigan Department of Urology. The Vortx RX is based on histotripsy technology, a non-thermal focused ultrasound therapy that mechanically liquefies targeted tissues.
The Vortx RX is an investigational device and is limited by law to investigational use by qualified investigators in the U.S. and Canada.
University of Michigan Urologist John Wei, MD performed the first Vortx RX treatment at the U of M and commented, ?We are delighted to contribute to a clinical trial that applies such innovative technology developed by Dr. William Roberts in our Department. This pilot clinical trial is an important first step to demonstrate safety of histotripsy BPH treatment.? The study is also being conducted at a site in Toledo, Ohio, where the first histotripsy treatment was done by Dr. Timothy Schuster.
Histotripsy technology was invented at the University of Michigan and licensed by HistoSonics in early 2010. The inventors are William Roberts, MD from the Department of Urology and Charles Cain, Ph.D., Brian Fowlkes, Ph.D., Tim Hall, Ph.D., Zhen Xu, Ph.D. from the Department of Biomedical Engineering . BPH is the first clinical application of Histotripsy and these scientists at the University of Michigan are researching the next applications which include lithotripsy, cancer tumor ablation, blood clot thrombolysis for deep vein thrombosis, and cardiac tissue ablation.
