A private Israeli hospital in Haifa will start implementing IceCure Medical Ltd’s tumor freezing technology within the next few months for eliminating benign breast tumors and cancerous kidney tumors by freezing them without the need for surgery, Globes reported Wednesday.
The medical device company was founded in 2006 and uses the ProSense system developed at the Elisha Private Hospital in Haifa. Commercial distribution in Israel will be carried out by Duke Medical Solutions.
Treatment is performed using ultrasound or CT imaging to insert a thin hollow needle into the tumor. The ProSense system then uses liquid nitrogen to create extremely cold temperatures to destroy the tumor, while protecting the healthy tissues surrounding the tumor and eradicating the entire affected cell.
The procedure lasts 20-40 minutes, without surgery or hospitalization, and allows for a quick return to day-to-day activities of the patient.
The procedure joins the “successful commercial treatment that has already been performed with our technology in Japan, the US, Hong Kong and Europe for various indications including breast, lung, bone, kidney and liver cancers,” said IceCure’s CEO Eyal Shamir.
The company said a recent large trial showed promising results for breast cancer, with a very low percentage of recurrence of cancer after treatment with ProSense in which out of 146 patients, only one showed recurrence of cancer.
The start of commercial treatment in Israel “represents acknowledgement by the medical establishment in Israel that our technology is an alternative that makes unnecessary the need for surgery and cutting open the breast,” Shamir added.
Treatment of the breast will be performed by Dr. Rafi Klein – Head of Breast Surgery at Elisha Hospital and Rambam Medical Center – in the clinic for patients with fibroadenoma type benign tumors. The hospital hopes that in the future it can perform these treatments on patients with cancerous breast tumors. Treatment of the kidneys will be performed by Prof. Ofer Nativ, Head of the Urological Department at the Bnai Zion Medical Center and Elisha Hospital and by Dr. Robert Sachner, Head of Interventional Radiology at the Bnai Zion Medical Center and Elisha Hospital.
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