High-intensity focused ultrasound could allow prostate cancer patients to avoid surgery
High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) could serve as a viable nonsurgical alternative for men being treated for prostate cancer.
The less invasive method helps men avoid some of the unpleasant side effects such as urinary incontinence and sexual dysfunction, which are known deterrents for patients facing potential prostatectomy. A recent study validated the method’s effectiveness, revealing that it achieves outcomes similar to those observed with partial or total gland removal.
Experts shared their findings in European Urology.
“Ablative therapies for patients with clinically localized prostate cancer have gained popularity in recent years as a means to reduce the adverse effects of surgery or radiation while maintaining oncologic control,” Guillaume Ploussard, with the department of urology at Southern Cross Clinic in France, and colleagues note. “However, high-quality studies comparing focal treatments to definitive therapies remain scarce.”
Researchers enrolled 3,328 patients with low- to intermediate-risk prostate cancer across 46 centers in their trial, including 1,967 treated with HIFU and 1,361 who underwent radical prostatectomy (RP). The team graded each method’s success based on salvage therapy–free survival (STFS) after 30 months, metastasis-free survival, PC-specific survival, overall survival and functional outcomes after 12 months.
In the HIFU group, 90% of patients were able to avoid salvage therapy at the 30-month mark, compared to 86% of the RP group. HIFU treatment also resulted in fewer adverse side effects and more patients from this group reported maintaining both urinary and sexual function 12 months after treatment in comparison to the RP group. Internal Prostate Symptom Scores and quality-of-life scores were similar between both groups as well.
Although the results are promising, the authors caution that their research represents the first prospective multicenter study to compare both methods. However, if further validated through long-term follow-up studies, the group is hopeful that HIFU could provide patients with greater flexibility in decision-making related to their cancer management.
The study abstract is available here.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.