MR guided HIFU treatment of soft tissue tumors of the extremities
Soft tissue tumors of the extremity occur in people of all ages. The standard of care is complete surgical resection of the tumor, and, in the case of malignant tumors, an additional margin of healthy tissue. Despite advances in surgical techniques, imaging technologies, chemotherapy regimens and radiotherapy, the morbidity associated with treating these tumors and the survival of patients with malignant tumors has not significantly improved in the past 20 years. We are adapting MRgHIFU techniques to the treatment of benign and malignant soft tissue tumors of the extremities, culminating in a Phase 1 clinical trial.
A photo of the right thigh of a patient with recurrent desmoid tumors, requiring three surgeries and multiple treatments with radiation, which are current standards of care. Despite the treatment, the patient is disfigured, had a pathologic fracture of the femur, and poor wound healing. Patients such as this would benefit greatly from a non-invasive therapy such as MRgHIFU. Images in the top right represent T1 weighted MR images of a human cadaveric lower leg undergoing HIFU planning. The yellow cylinders represent planned areas of sonication, and the blue areas are the treated areas with thermal dose deposited. The bottom right photo is of the tissue specimen showing the coagulated treatment area.
