UPDATE – OCTOBER 2026
AN IMPORTANT INTERNATIONAL CONNECTION FOR AUSTRALIAN CHOLANGIOCARCINOMA PATIENTS
Taipei Veterans General Hospital
Peyton, Claire, Steve, Professor Yi-Hsiang Huang, I-Yen Lin
During their recent visit to Taiwan, Steve and Claire Holmes, co-founders of Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation Australia, had the privilege of visiting Taipei Veterans General Hospital, where Histotripsy treatment is being performed.
A particularly significant part of their visit was meeting Professor Yi-Hsiang Huang, who holds two important leadership positions:
🔬 Director of Medical Research at Taipei Veterans General Hospital
💚 President of the Taiwan Liver and Biliary Patients’ Association
What makes this connection especially meaningful for our cholangiocarcinoma community is Professor Huang’s involvement in both medical research and an organisation dedicated to supporting people affected by liver and biliary diseases.
His dual roles provide an important link between advancing medical research, exploring emerging treatment technologies and understanding the needs of patients living with these complex diseases.
For Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation Australia, establishing relationships with medical professionals who are also actively involved in patient-focused organisations is particularly valuable.
An opportunity for Australian patients to explore Histotripsy
Following Steve and Claire’s visit, we are pleased to share that Australian patients interested in exploring Histotripsy can contact Taipei Veterans General Hospital’s International Medical Service to arrange a video consultation directly with Professor Yi-Hsiang Huang.
This provides an opportunity for patients to discuss their individual diagnosis, medical history and treatment circumstances with a specialist who is involved in medical research and also leads a liver and biliary patient association.
Histotripsy is an emerging, non-invasive treatment technology that uses focused ultrasound to destroy targeted tissue without surgical incisions. Although it offers promising possibilities for certain liver tumours, not every patient will be suitable, and individual medical assessment is essential.
How to arrange a consultation
Australian patients wishing to explore this treatment option can contact the hospital’s International Medical Service, which can assist with enquiries and arranging a video consultation.
🌐 https://international.vghtpe.gov.tw/home
Why this connection matters
At Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation Australia, we believe that building strong international relationships with clinicians, researchers and patient organisations is an important part of helping our community explore potential treatment options.
Professor Huang’s unique combination of medical research leadership and patient association involvement makes this relationship particularly relevant to our Foundation and the patients and families we support.
We sincerely thank Professor Huang and his colleagues for their generous hospitality, the time they spent with Steve and Claire, and their willingness to assist Australian patients interested in exploring Histotripsy.
Current Position
At present, there is no funding mechanism in place to execute this plan in Australia.
Our PRU team is actively working on this.
What You Need to Know
This page exists to provide accurate, grounded updates on a complex and evolving effort.
It outlines intent, current reality, and what must occur before access is possible.
This is not an announcement.
It is not a guarantee.
It is a live execution pathway, shared transparently.
Our PRU Team’s Goal
Patient Response Unit
A national, patient-led deployment of new cancer treatment infrastructure.
A breakthrough model of treatment, led by the community it serves.
Patient-led.
Fast rollout where possible.
Minimal friction.
Maximum impact.
No bureaucracy. Just execution.
What Is a Patient Response Unit (PRU)
PRUs are an initiative of cholangio.org, a patient and caregiver-led culture of proactive response, built to deliver where healthcare hesitates or misses.
People become patients, but diagnosis does not erase their real-world lived expertise and skills.
A PRU is a mission-driven cancer response unit.
A professionally organised and structured team, formed by reactivating real-world expertise from patients and caregivers, to solve problems what the system is not yet built to move on.
PRUs capture and redeploy that expertise into high-functioning units designed to execute where delay costs lives.
Rapid response units are built for real needs.
Strategic, skilled teams designed for scalable solutions.
An innovation by a foundation that does not advocate. It executes.
This is how we win.
Why This Matters
Histotripsy has moved from experimental technology to a clinically established treatment in select regions.
While Australian patients are travelling overseas for care, often at significant personal cost, domestic access remains unavailable.
This gap is not due to lack of evidence.
It is due to infrastructure, regulation, and execution lag.
In response, cholangio.org formed a dedicated Patient Response Unit. A professional, patient-led taskforce focused on the practical steps required to bring histotripsy into Australian hospitals.
This is not awareness.
This is infrastructure.
Built by patients.
Driven by urgency.
Executed with discipline.
What Is Histotripsy
Histotripsy is a non-invasive treatment that uses focused sound waves to mechanically destroy tumours with high precision while minimising damage to surrounding tissue.
It does not cut.
It does not burn.
It does not use radiation.
Tumours are disrupted using microbubbles and pressure, guided by advanced imaging.
Originally developed by Dr Zhen Xu and her team at the University of Michigan, histotripsy is delivered via the Edison System, developed by HistoSonics.
The technology has FDA approval for the treatment of liver tumours and is in clinical use in the United States.
Histotripsy represents a genuine technological breakthrough. Access in Australia, however, requires regulatory, clinical, and infrastructure steps that are still in progress.
Access – Patient Pathway
This initiative is led by the Cholangiocarcinoma Foundation Australia.
Our intent is to enable a national rollout for all Australians, across relevant cancer types, once regulatory and clinical pathways allow.
This is a patient-led cancer infrastructure initiative built from unmet need and execution urgency. Built from need and driven by a team that did not wait for permission.
Because survival does not.
This initiative does not guarantee access, timing, or eligibility. All treatment decisions remain with the treating medical team and relevant regulatory authorities.
