New Products In Brief
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
Sonablate 500 software addition: US HIFU is outfitting its minimally invasive high-intensity focused ultrasound device with a new Tissue Change Monitoring software component that will allow physicians to monitor prostatic tissue changes in real time, the firm announced. According to US HIFU CEO Stephen Puckett, "from a competitive perspective, TCM levels the playing field with MRI systems because TCM gives immediate feedback on what is happening to the tissue during treatment." The software works by sending a radiofrequency signal to a precise site in the prostate before the physician treats it with ultrasound energy, after which another signal is sent that quantifies the change that took place. The results are color-coded and displayed on the Sonablate 500 screen and overlaid on a sagittal image. Sonablate 500 is currently in clinical trials in the U.S. for the treatment of prostate cancer. US HIFU recently secured $5 million in financing to support the studies (1"The Gray Sheet" Aug. 20, 2009)