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SONABLATE^® 500
 

How Does it Work?

HIFU is similar to the light passing through a magnifying glass to a sharp focal spot an exact distance away from the lens.  Similar to the magnifying lens, ultrasound energy is focused through a transducer lens to a prescribed distance (3.0cm or 4.0cm) from the transducer face.  Converging ultrasound energy waves of high intensity generate tremendous energy increases in the focal spot driving the focal temperatures up to 70 -100^oC in less than one second.  The tissue is destroyed within 3 seconds and the energy is turned off. The system then begins to overlap these focal spots on each other, under computer control, back and forth throughout the prostate until the entire gland is destroyed. 

The process can take between 1-3 hours depending on the size of the prostate.  The tissue is destroyed by thermal damage, or ablation.  The dead tissue then sloughs out through the urination process and through absorption of fluid and tissue by the body. 

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