by Mercy's Bethany Pope
Key points:
- The first patient in Missouri to undergo the histotripsy procedure received his care at Mercy St. Louis and shares his pain-free recovery story.
- After a traditional liver tumor removal six years ago, Mike Wess is thankful he was offered the innovative, non-invasive procedure to remove diseased tissue.
- Wess reported no pain after the procedure and returned to normal activities the same day.
- The Histosonics histotripsy device uses high-frequency, high-intensity sound waves to liquefy tumors without surgery, chemotherapy or radiation.
- As one of the first 100 hospitals in the U.S. to use this groundbreaking technology, Mercy Hospital St. Louis continues to lead in innovative care.
- Adding histotripsy to Mercy’s comprehensive liver care program underscores Mercy’s commitment to providing patients with the most advanced, minimally invasive treatment options available.
ST. LOUIS – When Mike Wess, 82, had a second cancerous liver tumor appear six years after a complex surgery to remove the first, he knew he would seek care with the same doctor – Mercy surgical oncologist Dr. Peter DiPasco. What came as a surprise to Wess was a new, non-invasive procedure Dr. DiPasco told him about called histotripsy.
Histotripsy uses focused, pulsed sound waves to mechanically break down and liquefy targeted tissue, avoiding the heat, needles and ionizing energy required by traditional cancer treatments.
Wess’s first liver surgery in 2020 was complex, took about seven hours and required weeks of painful recovery. With histotripsy, he was home and back to normal the same evening – no pain, no incision and no recovery time.
“It was a lot easier than the first time,” said Wess, the first patient in Missouri to undergo a histotripsy . “It’s crazy. I was cut from my breastbone to my abdomen the first time. This time, I asked my granddaughter if she wanted to see my incision, and then said there isn’t one! There’s nothing to see.”
Wess’s wife Lillian noticed the differences between the first surgery six years ago and the more recent histotripsy procedure.
“After the first surgery, there was a large incision – and medical issues that went along with it. It was hard to see the pain he was in, and there were things I had to help him with,” Lillian said. “And then with this procedure, the next day he was fine. There was nothing – he ate the same, he slept well, he functioned – it was just amazing.”
Dr. DiPasco explained that while Wess’s active histotripsy treatment time only took a total of about 35 minutes, the treatment planning leading up to it took more time. During this planning, careful and exact guidance of the system’s treatment arm is programmed with extreme precision.
“It’s almost like a photographer getting that perfect setup and angle,” Dr. DiPasco said. “The actual click of the button is very quick, but there’s a lot of work that goes into it before the snap.”
In the operating room, the actual treatment head and arm never physically touch the patient – only a thin, elastic membrane filled with degassed water nicknamed a “wobble.” From the treatment head, therapeutic sound waves travel through the skin and destroy the tumor.
“When you stand back and think about how it hasn’t been that many years to see such a massive change in how we are performing liver surgery, that it’s really been such a short amount of time, it’s pretty staggering,” Dr. DiPasco said.
“I was a little hesitant, not knowing what I was getting into – but I thoroughly trust Dr. DiPasco, and if he was comfortable with it, I was comfortable with it,” Wess said. “I can’t explain how happy I am with this decision. The other option was major surgery.”
As one of the first 100 hospitals in the U.S. to use this groundbreaking technology, Mercy Hospital St. Louis continues to lead in innovative care. The integration of histotripsy into Mercy’s comprehensive liver program reinforces its commitment to offering patients cutting-edge, minimally invasive therapies. Ongoing clinical trials are now assessing the Edison system’s potential in treating solid renal tumors and inoperable pancreatic adenocarcinoma.
