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.

Current Position

At present, there is no funding mechanism in place to execute this plan.

Our PRU team is actively working on this.

Separately, we are aware of a privately driven effort involving a wealthy individual working with an unnamed hospital.

We are not involved in this process and are not privy to details or timelines.

Any verified updates will be shared on this page and the Facebook group.

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.

All confirmed updates will appear here first.

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.