Beaumont Unveils New Nanoknife Technology to Treat Cancer

Minimally invasive therapy uses electric pulses to destroy soft tissue

Beaumont Hospitals is one of 20 hospitals nationwide now offering minimally invasive surgery for soft tissue with the NanoKnife IRE System.

Dr. Koffron using the NanoKnife IRE System

Alan Koffron, M.D., surgeon and director, multi-organ transplant program, Beaumont Hospitals, performed Beaumont’s first NanoKnife microscopic surgery on Dec. 28.  The patient was a 79-year-old Bay City area man with liver cancer.

"The NanoKnife is a dramatic surgical advancement allowing us to treat soft tissue tumors,” explains Koffron, who participated in clinical studies of the technology. “It may provide a new option for people who have exhausted other forms of treatment.”

The NanoKnife IRE System is the first medical technology to use irreversible electroporation, to ablate soft tissue. It does this by opening permanent, nano-sized pores in the membranes of the cells. This irreversible damage causes cell death, while protecting critical and often delicate nearby structures such as ducts and blood vessels.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration have cleared the NanoKnife for surgical ablation of soft tissue.

The procedure is done under general anesthesia and most patients experience less pain or bleeding afterwards. Guided by ultrasound or CT images, a physician places small, IRE electrodes in or around the tumor. The electrodes then send out a series of short, intense electrical pulses that irreversibly damage the cells in the ablation zone and they soon die. Patients are typically discharged from the hospital the day after their procedure.

For more information on NanoKnife treatments call 248-551-0729.

Beaumont’s Surgery department offers patients the latest minimally invasive technology and treatments, with care provided by highly trained physicians, anesthesiologists, nurses and technicians. Beaumont offers bariatric; cardiovascular; colon and rectal; ear, nose and throat; eye; gynecological; hand; neurosurgery; oral and maxillofacial; orthopedic; pediatric; plastic; thoracic; trauma; urological and vascular surgery. Beaumont, Royal Oak is one of the highest-volume surgery centers in the country.