82-Year-Old Gets Tumor Removed With Sound Waves, No Cuts

Mike Wess walked into Mercy Hospital St. Louis with a cancerous liver tumor and walked out the same evening eating dinner, pain-free, without a single cut on his body.

The 82-year-old became the first person in Missouri to undergo histotripsy, a breakthrough procedure that uses focused sound waves to literally liquefy tumors. No surgery, no radiation, no needles.

The difference from his first liver tumor removal in 2020 couldn't be more dramatic. That surgery took seven hours, left a foot-long incision from breastbone to abdomen, and required weeks of agonizing recovery.

This time, Wess joked with his granddaughter about showing her his incision, then laughed because there wasn't one to see. His wife Lillian watched in amazement as he functioned completely normally the next day, eating and sleeping without any of the medical complications that plagued his first recovery.

The histotripsy device works like a precision camera that took 35 minutes to capture the perfect shot. Dr. Peter DiPasco, Wess's surgical oncologist, spent careful time programming the treatment arm with extreme precision before the actual therapy began.

During treatment, the device never touches the patient. A thin membrane filled with water sits between the machine and skin while therapeutic sound waves travel through to mechanically break down diseased tissue. The targeted tumor turns to liquid that the body naturally absorbs.

Wess admitted feeling hesitant about trying something so new, but his trust in Dr. DiPasco won out. The alternative was major surgery again, and he's thrilled he made the choice.

Why This Inspires

Mercy Hospital St. Louis is among the first 100 hospitals in America to offer this groundbreaking technology. For patients facing terrifying diagnoses, that number represents hope spreading across the country.

The speed of medical progress here is staggering. Just a few years ago, complex liver surgery meant unavoidable trauma and lengthy recovery. Now sound waves can destroy cancer without breaking skin.

Clinical trials are already testing the Edison system on kidney tumors and inoperable pancreatic cancer. What worked for Wess's liver could soon help thousands more patients avoid the scalpel entirely.

Medicine just took a giant leap toward less suffering and faster healing.