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High-intensity focused ultrasound tumor ablation: Review of ten years of clinical experience

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Abstract

High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a technique to destroy tissue at depth within the body, selectively and without harming overlying and adjacent structures within the path of the beam because the ultrasonic intensity at the beam focus is much higher than that outside of the focus. Diagnostic ultrasound is the first imaging modality used for guiding HIFU ablation. In 1997, a patient with osteosarcoma was first successfully treated with ultrasound imaging-guided HIFU in Chongqing, China. Over the last decade, thousands of patients with uterine fibroids, liver cancer, breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, bone tumors, and renal cancer have been treated with ultrasound imaging-guided HIFU. Based on several research groups’ reports, as well as our ten-year clinical experience, we conclude that this technique is safe and effective in treating human solid tumors. HIFU is a promising technique. Most importantly, HIFU offers patients another alternative when those patients have no other treatment available.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Clinical Center for Tumor Therapy of 2nd Hospital of Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing, 400010, China

    Lian Zhang & Zhi-Biao Wang

  2. State Key Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chongqing University of Medical Sciences, Chongqing, 400037, China

    Zhi-Biao Wang

  3. National Engineering and Research Center for Ultrasound Medicine, Chongqing, 401121, China

    Zhi-Biao Wang

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  1. Lian Zhang
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Correspondence to Zhi-Biao Wang.

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Zhang, L., Wang, ZB. High-intensity focused ultrasound tumor ablation: Review of ten years of clinical experience. Front. Med. China 4, 294–302 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11684-010-0092-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11684-010-0092-8

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