INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Over 800,000 people are diagnosed with liver cancer every year worldwide.

It accounts for more than 700,000 cancer deaths each year.

Traditional treatment typically involves surgery, immunotherapy, or chemotherapy. Now, doctors at the Cleveland Clinic are using a new “mon-invasive” approach to kill the tumors.

It’s helping to keep patients alive.

The traditional treatments, such as surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, often come with significant side effects and lengthy recovery times.

That’s why minimally invasive liver surgeon Dr. David Kwon at Cleveland Clinic is using a new FDA-approved, noninvasive technology, called histotripsy, to eliminate the tumors.

“Histotripsy’s an ultrasonic-based energy device. It causes a cavitation with the ultrasonic pulse waves, and that cavitation causes microbubbles, and it is those microbubbles that causes frictional force through the cells and the cells die because of the production and disappearance of these microbubbles,” Kwon explained.

The procedure is quick – taking only an hour to perform, compared to traditional surgery, which can take up to seven hours.

“Because of this noninvasive nature, the patients are able to get discharged very quickly. None of my patients, that I’ve treated so far, require any opioids,” Kwon said.

While more research is needed to fully understand the long-term benefits, this breakthrough offers a new, less invasive option for liver cancer patients.

Experts are optimistic that non-invasive ultrasound therapy could soon become a standard treatment for some liver tumors.

This story was created from a script aired on WISH-TV. Health Spotlight is presented by Community Health Network.