U.S. and European authorities issued its approval in December 2012, latterly in June 2015 the FDA of China also sanctioned the use of Non-thermal ablation techniques, more commonly known as NanoKnife ablation or Irreversible Electroporation (IRE) for clinical purposes. The Nanoknife seems to help in treating tumors located in some solid organs such as the pancreas, liver, lungs, kidneys, and even the prostate. Its efficacy is unmatched particularly with tumors abutting gallbladders, bile ducts, and ureters. Fuda Cancer Hospital holds the record in Asia for the most number of cases treated, as it was the first hospital to use Nanoknife in Asia.

In contrast to other treatment options, the issues related to Nanoknife therapy are much less severe. This is due to the fact that Nanoknife can cause exact tumor cell apoptosis without damaging adjacent blood vessels, bile ducts, and nerves which leads to total ablation of the tumor.

Benefits of NanoKnife Treatment

For solid tumors with a diameter of up to 3 cm, ablation is very rapid. More specifically, Nanoknife achieves it with 90 x 100 million second ultrashort pulses. Each cycle lasts under a minute, and three to four overlapping regions can be addressed in less than five minutes.
Keeping important tissues safe
The structure of critical, life-sustaining tissues can be safeguarded with the use of Nanoknife. Amazing liver structures such as the hepatic artery, hepatic vein, portal vein, and even the intrahepatic bile ducts are all retained during the cover treatment. Breast cancer patients who are looking to conserve their breasts will benefit the most from Nanoknife.

Absence of heat island effect
During the procedure, the outside environment will not excessively alter thermal energy, or any other form of energy, for the NanoKnife System. The System uses electrical pulses to perform cell membrane rupture. Classic or traditional forms of ablation, whether thermal or cryo, share the following trait: In cases where large blood vessels are present in the ablation zone, they will “steal” energy from the surrounding non-ablated regions, often leading to “overheating” and incomplete ablation of the treated zone. This does not happen during treatment with the Nanoknife.

Functional regions remain from the ablated area
NanoKnife causes apoptosis at the cellular level and in doing so, damages the tumor irreversibly. Cell apoptosis does trigger responders, and so, an immune response is mounted that will result in death of cells, but without unnecessary complications.

An ordinary human thinks of programmed cell death as a wound that needs healing. In turn, tissue elimination via local cellular cleanup will heal the healthy tissue and remove the damaged tissue.

Supervision of the Treatment in Progress
CT and MRI scans can be used for CT and MRI uses vivo ultra sounds as well, so they can also be employed for instante ultrasound imaging.The distinction between the pathological areas measured and the ablation zones, as well as the regions observed through ultrasound or CT, is only a few millimeters.

Imaging can also capture the tumor tissue not yet removed, which can then be removed through ablation repeatedly. In addition, active supervision allows the physician to predict injuries that pose a reasonable risk to the patient which is beyond the acceptable threshold, therefore ensuring safety.

Application for pathological conditions
The abolition of traditional methods does not apply if the tumor is adjacent to large vessels like the bile duct, pancreatic duct, and hepatic portal vein. Other ablation methods damage nerve tissue unnecessarily and result in paralysis and impotence if the cancer is located near the prostate or spine. Such harm to essential organs is not a result of the Nanoknife.