An Israeli company has developed a treatment for cancerous tumors that has caused a great stir within the medical community. This minimally invasive process is giving a new option for many oncologists around the world and hope to many who have been afflicted. Rather than having to aggressively cut cancerous tumors out of the body, these benign or malignant tumors can be dealt with using advanced cryotherapy.

IceCure Medical is an Israeli biomedical company founded in 2006 and headquartered in Caesarea, along Israel’s Mediterranean coast. Their flagship system, ProSense, uses cryoablation to attack and destroy cancerous tumors. The primary target for their work has been tumors in the breast, but the process can also be used to combat renal, lung, and bone cancers.i

In cryoablation, a specialized needle, called a cryoprobe, is inserted into the tumor through which liquid nitrogen is passed. The tissue of the tumor succumbs to the freeze, while all the healthy tissue surrounding the affected area remains undamaged.ii In clinical trials in the US, 146 patients with early-stage breast cancer received treatment using the ProSense system. All of them had their tumors destroyed and only one saw a recurrence of the cancer over a two-year time period.iii

The US FDA has taken notice of IceCure Medical and has recently given ProSense the designation of a Breakthrough Device. According to the FDA website, this designation is reserved for “certain medical devices and device-led combination products that provide for more effective treatment or diagnosis of life-threatening or irreversibly debilitating diseases or conditions.”iv

“We are thrilled to receive the Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA,” said IceCure CEO Eyal Shamir. “We believe receipt of the designation is a testimony to the potential of ProSense to become the new gold standard for cryoablation tumor therapy.”v Not content with the success they have already achieved, IceCure is now in clinical trials for Ice3 which will take their cryoablation therapy even a step further.vi

It is likely that there are very few who don’t personally know someone who has suffered through cancer treatments. There are also many of you who have had to endure the process yourselves. Through the innovation of this Israeli company, the hope is that not only will lives be saved but the painful treatment process for those suffering with cancer will be greatly lessened.

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i “ABOUT US.” IceCure, icecure-medical.com/company/about-us/.

ii “News Briefs.” NoCamels, nocamels.com/category/news-briefs/#post-98836.

iii Ibid.

iv Center for Devices and Radiological Health. “Breakthrough Devices Program.” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, www.fda.gov/medical-devices/how-study-and-market-your-device/breakthrough-devices-program.

v “News Briefs.”

vi Ibid.