Sound waves able to treat prostate cancer offering fewer side effects
July 4th, 2009 Posted in hifuAccording to the results of a UK study published in the British Journal of Cancer, an experimental cancer therapy for prostate cancer, known as High-Intensity-Focused-Ultrasound or HIFU, may be able to treat men without surgery and offer fewer side effects. HIFU uses high frequency sound waves to heat up small accurately-targeted amounts of tissue to a temperature of 80-90°C. It can be used to treat the whole prostate, as in this study, or just the cancer areas.
The trial took place at two centres - University College Hospital in London and the privately owned Princess Grace Hospital, also in London and involved a group of 172 men with prostate cancer that had not spread were treated under general anaesthetic with HIFU.
The study conclusion says this technique needs careful evaluation to make sure that it can produce the same results as the proven treatments for early prostate cancer. If the treatment can be shown to have less side effects then that will be excellent news, but more research is needed to show this.