High-intensity focused ultrasound procedure treats localized prostate cancer while preserving urinary, sexual function

For Bruno Nahar, M.D., urological oncologist at Sylvester Complete Most cancers Middle and Desai Sethi Urology Institute, performing the a hundred and fiftieth focal high-intensity centered ultrasound (HIFU) process on a affected person with localized prostate most cancers wasn’t nearly reaching a milestone.

It was about pioneering a process that medical doctors are utilizing worldwide to successfully deal with localized prostate most cancers, whereas preserving urinary and sexual perform in males.

“Desai Sethi Urology Institute has been on the forefront of focal HIFU. Desai Sethi Founding Director Dipen J. Parekh, M.D., helped to develop HIFU. We have been among the many first educational establishments to carry out it on a prostate most cancers affected person within the U.S. And we published the primary U.S. collection on the protection and efficacy of focal HIFU in prostate most cancers,” stated Dr. Nahar, assistant professor of urologic oncology and Eric and Elizabeth Feder Endowed Chair in Urologic Oncology Analysis at Desai Sethi Urology Institute (DSUI) on the College of Miami Miller College of Drugs.

Altering the prostate most cancers remedy panorama

Focal HIFU has modified the remedy panorama for a lot of males with prostate most cancers. Previous to HIFU, radiation therapy or surgical procedure have been commonplace remedy choices for localized prostate most cancers. Whereas these remedies successfully eradicated the most cancers, many males suffered problems corresponding to urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.

Focal HIFU makes use of high-intensity ultrasound waves to destroy cancerous prostate tissue. The expertise’s potential to ship localized heating (with out surgical procedure or making an incision) targets cells throughout the gland with out harming close by wholesome tissue. This strategy is prone to spare males the unwanted side effects which can be extra frequent with surgical procedure or radiation, and most HIFU sufferers go dwelling the day of their process to get better.

“There may be at all times a studying curve with newer procedures. Our expertise in performing focal HIFU for prostate most cancers has helped us to be taught which sufferers are the perfect candidates for the much less invasive strategy and find out how to higher use expertise, together with robotics and MRI, to refine HIFU,” stated Dipen J. Parekh, M.D., DSUI founding director and chair of urology on the Miller College. “Desai Sethi Urology Institute continues to drive innovation within the evolution of focal HIFU.”

Continued analysis for HIFU and prostate most cancers

Regardless of reaching the 150-patient milestone and having carried out HIFU on extra prostate cancer sufferers than simply about any U.S. educational middle, DSUI continues to review the strategy.

“We’re engaged on three new manuscripts that won’t solely present up to date outcomes but in addition discover essential features like affected person choice and follow-up methods,” Dr. Nahar stated.

Dr. Nahar stated that by the expertise of he and Dr. Parekh performing a complete of 150 circumstances at DSUI, essentially the most important lesson they’ve discovered is the paramount significance of affected person choice.

“The success of focal remedy (concentrating on cancer cells and avoiding wholesome tissue), and HIFU specifically, largely hinges on this side. If you choose your sufferers fastidiously, you’ll seemingly have good outcomes,” Dr. Nahar stated. “That being stated, HIFU is not a one-size-fits-all answer. At DSUI, we provide different remedy modalities like surgical procedure or lively surveillance for many who aren’t supreme candidates for focal remedy.”