Focused Ultrasound Therapy
Focused ultrasound is a noninvasive, therapeutic technology with the potential to improve the quality of life and decrease the cost of care for patients with kidney tumors. This novel technology focuses beams of ultrasound energy precisely and accurately on targets deep in the brain without damaging surrounding normal tissue.
How it Works
Where the beams converge, focused ultrasound produces several therapeutic effects that are being evaluated.
One mechanism is the precise ablation (thermal destruction of tissue), which can be done to completely destroy the target or to partially treat it. Partial treatment is believed to stimulate the patient’s immune response, which may have a broader impact.
Another mechanism is the use of mechanical (non-thermal) histotripsy to destroy the tumor.
A third mechanism is to use focused ultrasound to cause hyperthermia which enables the local release and absorption of a therapeutic that is contained in the blood stream.
Advantages
The primary options for treatment of kidney tumors depend on the type of the tumor, but typical approaches are partial or complete surgical removal. Radiation, arterial embolization or chemotherapy may also be considered.
For certain patients, focused ultrasound could provide a noninvasive alternative to surgery with less risk of complications – such as surgical wound healing or infection – at a lower cost. It can reach the desired target without damaging surrounding tissue and is repeatable, if necessary. Focused ultrasound can also enhance the chemotherapy dose for the target, with less impact to the rest of the patient.
Clinical Trials
A clinical trial using histotripsy for the treatment of kidney tumors has begun in the UK.
A second clinical trial using histotripsy for the treatment of kidney tumors has begun in the USA.
A clinical trial in Washington, DC is using focused ultrasound to treat a variety of relapsing solid tumors.
The Foundation updates these pages regularly, but with the increasing number of clinical trials, we want to be sure that our audience has the latest information available. Therefore, we also added the website search information for the above trials. If you click here, it will take you to the latest information available from https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/.
See a list of treatment sites >
See a list of laboratory research sites >
Regulatory Approval and Reimbursement
A focused ultrasound system has been approved in China and in Europe for treatment of kidney cancer.
To the best of our knowledge, the use of focused ultrasound to treat kidney cancer is not yet reimbursed by medical insurance.
Notable Papers
Kisting AL, Zlevor AM, Falk KL, Kisting MA, Laklouk IA, Wagner MG, White JK, Winterholler JE, Jentink MS, Abel EJ, Knavel Koepsel EM, Hinshaw JL, Swietlik JF, Mao L, Minesinger GM, Laeseke PF, Ziemlewicz TJ, Lee FT Jr. Histotripsy of the Proximal Ureter and Renal Pelvis: Evaluation of Urothelial Injury in a Porcine Survival Model. J Vasc Interv Radiol. 2025 Mar;36(3):512-520.e1. doi: 10.1016/j.jvir.2024.11.028. Epub 2024 Dec 9. PMID: 39662616
Ponomarchuk E, Thomas G, Song M, Wang YN, Totten S, Schade G, Thiel J, Bruce M, Khokhlova V, Khokhlova T. Advancing Boiling Histotripsy Dose in Ex Vivo And In Vivo Renal Tissues Via Quantitative Histological Analysis and Shear Wave Elastography. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2024 Dec;50(12):1936-1944. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2024.08.022. Epub 2024 Sep 23. PMID: 39317625
Khandpur U, Haile B, Makary MS. Early-Stage Renal Cell Carcinoma Locoregional Therapies: Current Approaches and Future Directions. Clin Med Insights Oncol. 2024 Oct 18;18:11795549241285390. doi: 10.1177/11795549241285390. eCollection 2024. PMID: 39435052
Tsai SH, Kan WC, Jhen RN, Chang YM, Kao JL, Lai HY, Liou HH, Shiao CC. Secondary hyperparathyroidism in chronic kidney disease: A narrative review focus on therapeutic strategy. Clin Med (Lond). 2024 Sep;24(5):100238. doi: 10.1016/j.clinme.2024.100238. Epub 2024 Aug 30. PMID: 39208984
Ponomarchuk E, Thomas G, Song M, Wang YN, Totten S, Schade G, Thiel J, Bruce M, Khokhlova V, Khokhlova T. Advancing Boiling Histotripsy Dose in Ex Vivo And In Vivo Renal Tissues Via Quantitative Histological Analysis and Shear Wave Elastography. Ultrasound Med Biol. 2024 Sep 23:S0301-5629(24)00333-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ultrasmedbio.2024.08.022. PMID: 39317625
Dai T, Wang Q, Zhu L, Luo Q, Yang J, Meng X, Wang H, Sun Z. Combined UTMD-Nanoplatform for the Effective Delivery of Drugs to Treat Renal Cell Carcinoma. Int J Nanomedicine. 2024 Aug 21;19:8519-8540. doi: 10.2147/IJN.S459960. eCollection 2024. PMID: 39185349
Chan VW, Ng HH, Wah TM. Image-Guided Ablation of Renal Masses: Challenges to Produce High-Quality Evidence and Future Directions. Semin Intervent Radiol. 2024 Jul 10;41(2):144-153. doi: 10.1055/s-0044-1787163. eCollection 2024 Apr. PMID: 38993603
Rosnitskiy PB, Khokhlova TD, Schade GR, Sapozhnikov OA, Khokhlova VA. Treatment Planning and Aberration Correction Algorithm for HIFU Ablation of Renal Tumors. IEEE Trans Ultrason Ferroelectr Freq Control. 2024 Jan 17;PP. doi: 10.1109/TUFFC.2024.3355390. PMID: 38231825
Click here for additional references from PubMed.