September 2018

The UK urologist group led by University College and Imperial College London published 5-year outcomes from a multicenter study following focal therapy treatment with its Sonablate technology of 625 medium to high-risk clinically significant nonmetastatic prostate cancer patients.

With a median five-year follow-up, failure free survival at one, three, and five years was 99%, 92%, and 88% respectively, equivalent to that achieved with surgery. Metastasis-free, cancer-specific, and overall survival at five years was 98%, 100%, and 99% respectively. The study additionally reports that 98% of men maintained pad-free urinary continence after their procedure and 85% maintained erectile function, both material improvements over that seen with surgery and radiation therapy.

"Focal HIFU is a major shift in treating men with early prostate cancer. Our study shows that cancer control in the medium term is very good and importantly, men can expect a low-risk of side effects such as incontinence and erection problems,” states Prof. Hashim Ahmed, Chair of Urology at Imperial College London and contributing author to this study. “All men who are suitable for focal HIFU should be told about this treatment option so they might consider it as an alternative to radical prostatectomy or radiotherapy."

Read more in the open source article:
https://www.europeanurology.com/article/S0302-2838(18)30431-7/pdf