IceCure’s Treatment That Turns Tumors Into Ice Balls Reports Success In Lung Cancer Trial

Two weeks ago, we published an article about Israeli company IceCure, known for its treatment that freezes benign and small malignant breast tumors into balls of ice, and which had just announced it would turn its sight on lung cancer.

Now we can announce that the clinical trial on IceCure’s effectiveness with lung cancer, by far the world’s most prevalent cancer killer, has been successful.

IceCure has announced that, as part of the trial that was taking place at the Kameda Medical Center in Japan, two lung cancer patients were successfully treated with the company’s IceSense3 cryotherapy system.

IceCure president and CEO Hezi Himelfarb said, “We’re pleased at the success in destroying lung cancer tumors because use of our cryoablation platform could open to us a potential market of hundreds of thousands of new cases in the US alone. Treatment with IceCure’s system, which is a minimally invasive procedure, has clear advantages over complicated and expensive surgical solutions for excising tumors, which involve hospital stays, surgery, and prolonged recovery.

“We believe that further success in the breast cancer clinical trial in the US and the lung cancer clinical trial in Japan positions IceCure in a good place and paves the way to participating in these opportunities.”

An alternative to surgery

IceCure has already received FDA approval for its cryoablation system, IceSense3, to treat fibroadenomas and small malignant breast tumors. The procedure is minimally invasive, takes approximately 15 minutes and requires only local anaesthetic.

IceSense3 uses ultrasound imaging to guide a hollow needle into the lump or tumor. The distal part of the needle is then cooled to -274F (-170C) through the use of liquid nitrogen, which engulfs the tumor in a ball of ice and destroys the targeted cells. No further procedure is necessary and the body automatically reabsorbs the dead cells over time.

Taking on the leading cancer killer

According to the American Cancer Society, lung cancer is the leading cancer killer of both men and women in the United States, more than the next three cancers combined (colon, breast and prostate). IceCure’s successful entry into lung cancer treatments greatly increases its business potential.

After the trial is completed and the results are analyzed, IceCure will examine the extent of its involvement in the treatment of lung cancer by cryoablation.

A preclinical trial on animals at Kameda Medical Center found it more effective compared with other cryoablation methods.