A non-invasive live cancer treatment will be available in the UK, making it the first country in Europe to benefit from this new medical technology.

The device has been developed by US-based company HistoSonics and will use ultrasound technology to destroy tumours without surgery, scalpels or radiation, but without inflicting major damage to surrounding organs.

This new treatment would allow patients to benefit from faster recovery times, potentially better survival rates, fewer potentially dangerous complications and fewer hospital stays, which will help to cut waits for others.

Treatment could take less than half an hour and is delivered through just one session. Patients would feel limited or now pain, benefit from a speedy recovery, and can be treated as a day case.

Access to this treatment was granted through the UK’s Innovative Devices Access Pathway programme, which is a government-funded scheme to get cutting-edge health innovations to the market much quicker. The technology, called histotripsy, will be first available at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge, part of the Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The first NHS patients will be treated using this device this summer.

This technology has been procured and installed thanks to a generous donation to the University of Cambridge from the Li Ka Shing Foundation.

Professor Deborah Prentice, vice-chancellor at the University of Cambridge, said: “Through his longstanding support of cancer research at Cambridge, Sir Ka-shing Li continues to make a significant impact on outcomes for cancer patients.

“Cutting-edge technology such as this histotripsy machine allows Cambridge to remain at the forefront of understanding and treating cancer, a position we aim to strengthen further with Cambridge Cancer Research Hospital.”