Northeast Georgia Medical Center Gainesville has announced it will be the first and only hospital in the Peach State to offer non-invasive liver cancer treatment.
Patients across several states in the southeast now have a non-invasive treatment option for liver cancer tumors, NGMC officials said Monday. NGMC has become the only hospital in Georgia and one of the few in the United States to offer a new form of cancer treatment known as histotripsy.
“Histotripsy represents the latest advancement in cancer care, using soundwaves – not surgery – to eliminate cancerous tissue,” Nelson Royall, MD, Northeast Georgia Physicians Group said. “The focused ultrasound waves precisely break down targeted tissues, and eliminate tumors, through sonic beam therapy.”
NGMC’s physicians perform histotripsy by using The Edison System, a platform that delivers pulsed sound energy into the body, without any incisions or needles, and can destroy tumors at the sub-cellular level, according to officials. Histotripsy has been FDA-approved for the treatment of liver cancerous tissue since Oct. 2023.
“One of the key advantages of histotripsy is its ability to achieve precise tissue destruction without the need for incisions or invasive procedures,” Terence Jackson, MD said. “Histotripsy allows patients to have a quicker and easier recovery. I look forward to performing histotripsy on patients, along with Dr. Royall, later this year.”
Patients with liver tumors are potential candidates for histotripsy. This includes tumors that have formed within the liver or those that have spread to the liver from other organs.
NGMC is the first and only health system in Georgia and most of the southeast to offer histotripsy, officials said. Before now, the next nearest treatment locations for patients with liver cancer were Cleveland Clinic, University of Michigan and AdventHealth in Orlando.
