CAPS Medical, developer of a highly selective and minimally invasive non-thermal plasma (NTAP™) device for cancer treatment, announced today the enrollment of the first patients in a multi-center study to assess the safety and technical performance of their NTAP™ system in the treatment of Non Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC). The cancer patients in the study have been treated at Sheba Medical Center’s Urology Department. This is the first ever worldwide study for minimally invasive treatment of Bladder Cancer using Non Thermal Plasma.
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Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC) impacts 500,000 people in the U.S. alone with over 80,000 new cases added annually. NMIBC is characterized by a high recurrence rate of up to 80%, which means that in the majority of cases NMIBC is not cured. It is treated and retreated –using a Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumor (TURBT) procedure, which can cause scarring and damage to the bladder. This is followed by a series of intravesical instillations, which cause life-altering side effects. “We hope that CAPS Medical’s NTAP™ solution will help reduce the cancer recurrence rate by replacing the existing TURBT procedure while also avoiding the typical side effects, damage to the bladder and complications associated with the treatment options available today,” said Prof. Zohar Dotan, Chairman of the Department of Urology and the principal investigator of the trial at the Sheba Medical Center. Sheba has been ranked by Newsweek magazine, for the fourth consecutive year, as one of the 10 top hospitals in the world
Non-thermal Atmospheric Plasmas are streams of low ionized gas at room temperature. Their efficacy in selectively destroying cancer cells while preserving surrounding healthy tissue and their ability to trigger an immunological effect and encourage the body to heal itself are well-known and have been demonstrated. To date, however, the high energy required for existing non-thermal plasma applications necessitated the use of large-sized devices. This made using non-thermal plasma to treat cancerous tumors in minimally invasive procedures unfeasible.