Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41016946›Full record

ArticleCardiovascular and interventional radiology2025

Histotripsy of Liver Metastases: Short-Term Safety and Imaging Findings.

Tarub S Mabud, Monica Vergara, Jasper Du, William H Moore, Shu Liu, Frederic Bertino, Bedros Taslakian, Christopher Wolfgang, D Brock Hewitt, Mikhail Silk

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Article in Cardiovascular and interventional radiology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Histotripsy for Liver Tumors: Breakthrough or Hype?Annals of surgical oncology · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

Tarub S MabudDepartment of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA. tarub.mabud@nyulangone.org.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-2395
Monica VergaraDepartment of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
Jasper DuDepartment of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
William H MooreDepartment of Radiology, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
Shu LiuDepartment of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
Frederic BertinoDepartment of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
Bedros TaslakianDepartment of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
Christopher WolfgangDepartment of Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
D Brock HewittDepartment of Hepatobiliary & Pancreatic Surgery, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.
Mikhail SilkDepartment of Vascular and Interventional Radiology, NYU Langone Health, New York, NY, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeHistotripsy is a non-invasive ultrasound-based tumor ablation modality. This study aims to describe the preliminary safety and short-term imaging findings related to histotripsy of liver metastases. MATERIALS AND

methodsAll patients who underwent histotripsy for liver metastases from February 2024 to January 2025 at a single center were retrospectively reviewed. Demographic, clinical, imaging, procedural, and adverse event data were collected via chart review. Immediate post-treatment ablation zones were measured on CT and compared to pretreatment tumor size and treatment cavity size on follow-up imaging. Untreated tumors were assessed using revised RECIST criteria to evaluate for off-target effects.

resultsHistotripsy was performed on 56 metastatic liver tumors (most common: 32% colorectal, 18% breast) in 26 patients (54% female, age 59.1 ± 15.6y). All patients were discharged within 36 h. Immediate post-procedural ablation zones (36.6 + 13.1 mm) were larger compared to pretreatment tumors (30.5 + 18.5 mm) (p = 0.0013). One-month ablation zones (31.5 + 16.7 mm) were smaller compared to immediate post-procedural ablation zones (p = 0.00064). Two patients experienced off-target effects in non-treated liver tumors following histotripsy while off cytotoxic therapy. One patient experienced a Grade 3 complication of bacteremia requiring prolonged inpatient admission. No deaths occurred within 30 days.

conclusionHistotripsy demonstrates a favorable safety profile for liver metastases. Observed off-target effects in untreated lesions suggest systemic immunomodulatory responses. Further investigation is warranted to elucidate patient-specific factors (e.g., tumor biology, concurrent therapies) that optimize systemic immune activation. Larger prospective studies with longitudinal immune profiling are needed to validate histotripsy's potential dual role as a locoregional therapy and immune primer in metastatic liver disease. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 2b, retrospective cohort study.

Indexed as

High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound AblationLiver NeoplasmsAdultAgedFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedRetrospective StudiesTomography, X-Ray ComputedTreatment OutcomeAblationHistotripsyImmunotherapyLiver-directed therapyLiver metastases

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.