UPDATE - Issue 28 - Winter 2007
HIFU now mainstream
Still a relatively new technique, High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is being evaluated in a number of hospitals around the world. Because it uses only sound waves to treat the tumour, HIFU should lower the risk of impotence and incontinence that many men face after treatment - a big advantage. We reported on the technique two years ago in Update 20 when it was being trialled and evaluated. Now good results have been published both in France and the UK.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence have reviewed all the early data on prostate HIFU and have recommended that it should be available as a prostate cancer treatment in the UK so long as the normal procedures of consent, audit and clinical governance are in place. We understand that HIFU is now available as a treatment option in some twenty hospitals in the UK.
HIFU is a non-invasive technique which uses intersecting precision focused ultrasound waves. These raise the temperature of the tissue at the focal point to more than 80ºC in 2-3 seconds, killing the targeted cancerous tissue. The illustration shows treatment in progress. Red areas have been treated; the orange one is currently being treated; green illustrates the planned paths for completion of treatment.
HIFU Research
The Prostate Research Campaign UK is currently funding a clinical trial into one aspect of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound surgery.
The trial is being conducted by consultant Mark Emberton and clinical research fellow Hashim Uddin Ahmed of University College London.
The aim is to reduce the risk of side effects (impotence, incontinence and rectal problems) associated with surgery to the prostate. Twenty patients will be (some have already been) selected (using state of the art MRI scans and biopsies) who have their cancer confined to one half of the prostate gland. HIFU surgery is used to ablate just the diseased half. Their progress will be carefully followed for the first year to ascertain the extent to which this new approach reduces side effects.