Taipei Veterans General Hospital has introduced histotripsy, a non-invasive cancer treatment system worth over NT$100 million (about HK$25 million), under a charitable trust on Tuesday. The hospital plans to offer free treatment to 50 patients with liver cancer or liver metastases within six months for clinical trials.
The technology, utilizing advanced ultrasound technology to destroy cancer cells without causing damage to healthy surrounding tissue, was officially approved by Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration in May 2026.
Hospital director Chen Wei-ming explained the acquisition was inspired by Hong Kong tycoon Li Ka-shing's donation of the cutting-edge machine to the University of Hong Kong in August 2024, leading him to direct his team to explore the technology.
Comparing the hospital’s cancer treatment devices to legendary weapons from martial arts novels, Chen described the newly acquired histotripsy as “Heavenly Sword”.
Looking ahead, Chen hoped to expand the technology's application to kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, and prostate cancer .
Meanwhile, HistoSonics, the developer of the Edison Histotripsy System and novel histotripsy therapy platform, announced on Monday (May 11) that it has submitted a De Novo application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) seeking authorization to expand its system's scope of use to include the destruction of kidney tumors.
𝗗𝗼𝘄𝗻𝗹𝗼𝗮𝗱 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗔𝗽𝗽 ↓
