Key Points
- Dr. Yang is the Director of the Tumor High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Department at Ningbo No. 2 Hospital in China.
- He has treated more than 1,500 patients with focused ultrasound, primarily for challenging liver tumors.
Dr. Tong Yang is the Director of the Tumor High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) Department and chief physician at Ningbo No. 2 Hospital in China. Since 2016, he has treated approximately 1,500 cases using the Chongqing Haifu focused ultrasound device, including difficult-to-treat tumors, including those in the liver, pancreas, and uterus.
We recently spoke with Dr. Yang about his experience with the technology and his future plans.
Focused Ultrasound Work
When and how did you become interested in focused ultrasound?
In 2008, I discovered that HIFU was an innovative, non-radiation method for treating tumors. In addition to its thermal coagulation function, HIFU also has multiple cavitational, sonodynamic, and sonochemical effects. HIFU is not just a certain treatment method; it is a technology platform on which the treatment can be applied to multiple parts of whole body. I think this method may be a disruptive point in clinical innovation.
What are your areas of interest in focused ultrasound?
I am interested in the application and development of existing clinical focused ultrasound technology. I am researching and developing a holistic innovative focused ultrasound device and exploring new clinical indications for the technology.
What mechanisms and clinical indications do you study?
My research is primarily on thermal applications, histotripsy, sonodynamics, and the immune reactions caused by focused ultrasound for the treatment of tumors of the liver, thyroid, and pancreas. I also treat patients with cancer pain and am exploring focused ultrasound as a rescue therapy for advanced tumors via immune repair and drug resistance reversal.
What are the goals of your work?
- To solve difficult clinical cases.
- To expand focused ultrasound for new indications.
- To replace existing solutions with focused ultrasound in certain diseases and achieve a significant leap in efficacy and safety for others.
- To integrate clinical experiences and big data into a focused ultrasound device that would enable more convenient clinical application and decentralize the treatment proficiency level to accelerate the global adoption of the technology.
What are your funding sources?
My work is supported by Ningbo No. 2 Hospital as well as public and private science and technology funds.
Research Details
Who are your team members?
My impressive team of doctors and nurses in the Tumor HIFU Department includes Dr. Ning He, Dr. Lihu Gu, Dr. Zhi Zheng, and the nurses, Miss Chongyang Xu and Miss Qiuwen He.
Who are your internal and external collaborators?
We work closely with Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital and Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital (SRRSH). We also collaborate with HangZhou FoSurg Technology Co., Ltd., a focused ultrasound company that has designed an innovative device to treat the thyroid. The device is now being tested in a clinical trial.
What do you see as impediments to your success?
Ultimately, time and energy are the biggest hinderances.
What is your research wish list?
I hope to expand my research into treating difficult liver carcinomas (primary or metastatic) and thyroid nodules. I also want to explore using focused ultrasound for histotripsy and immunotherapy.
Has the Foundation played a role in your work?
Yes, the Foundation has been very helpful in expanding my international contacts.
Clinical Details
How many patients have you treated and for which indications?
I have treated approximately 1,500 cases using the Chongqing Haifu focused ultrasound device, including difficult-to-treat tumors, which refers to lesions that are unsuitable for surgery, radiofrequency ablation, or cryoablation. The lesions are typically located in regions such as the hepatic hilum, inferior vena cava, main portal vein, around the large bile ducts, diaphragmatic dome, close to the heart, and the gastric wall. I have treated liver tumors, pancreatic cancer, uterine fibroids, adenomyosis, retroperitoneal lymph node metastatic cancer, renal cancer, cancerous pain with the tumor lump, tumor recurrence after radiotherapy, and recurrent aggressive fibromatosis.
Do you have any notable patient stories to share?
Recently, there was a patient from the US who suffered from liposarcoma. After undergoing two surgeries, one round of radiation therapy, various chemotherapy treatments, targeted therapies, and immunotherapy, the patient was not improving. The patient consulted numerous doctors in the US, but they were left helpless. The patient’s family, through online research, discovered that HIFU technology could potentially treat advanced sarcomas like his, but they were unable to find a physician in the US.
Subsequently, the family conducted a global search and found my research on challenging tumors. They reached out to me expressing their desire for the patient to receive treatment in China. At that time, I confirmed that the patient could benefit from HIFU treatment and subsequent immune restoration. Because the patient was unable to fly commercially such a distance, the patient’s family decided to charter a medical flight from Los Angeles to Ningbo. Their motivation was simple: they had to try this treatment because the only other option was death.
Upon the patient’s arrival at the Ningbo hospital, he had lapsed into unconsciousness due to the fatigue of the long journey. He survived, but the opportunity for HIFU treatment was lost. Nonetheless, the family persistently adhered to their belief in fighting against the disease. They also expressed a wish: after the patient’s passing, they wanted to establish a fund to invest in a HIFU device in the US and the Middle East and provide HIFU training to doctors, including the Chinese HIFU technology. The goal was to enable more patients worldwide to benefit from HIFU.
Looking Ahead
What comes next?
I want to explore focused ultrasound to treat the thyroid and its applications for histotripsy.