Revolutionary Prostate Cancer Treatment
The Princess Grace Hospital
A revolutionary new treatment in the fight against prostate cancer, using high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), is now available at the London Prostate Centre, part of The Princess Grace Hospital in central London. With Prostate Cancer Awareness Week (21-27 March 2005) highlighting that cancer of the prostate kills more than one man every hour in the UK, many men must be wondering which treatments are available.
Around 30,000 men - almost all over the age of 50 - are diagnosed with cancer of the prostate every year. If the cancer is aggressive or diagnosed in a relatively young man, surgery or radiotherapy has been the usual treatment. For men under 70, the normal treatment is a prostatectomy - when the complete prostate gland is removed. Although around 70% of patients will be prostate cancer free after 10 years, impotence and incontinence are common side effects.
Prostate cancers can be treated in many ways, and The Princess Grace Hospital is the leading private centre in the UK and Ireland to offer a full minimally invasive treatment programme. Treatments offered include brachytherapy, involving the insertion of tiny radioactive iodine seeds into the prostate which give off cancer-killing radiation, and cryotherapy, a process to rapidly freeze and thaw the prostate, destroying cancer cells.
HIFU is the latest in the range of possible treatments, and urologists at The London Prostate Centre tailor the treatment programme to take account of their patients' needs and individual choice. The Princess Grace Hospital is the first in the UK to make available treatment using the Sonablate 500T HIFU equipment, which has been proven in international trials to be as effective as conventional surgery and radiotherapy, yet with less risk of erectile dysfunction and loss of bladder control.
HIFU treatment is pain-free and non-invasive - there are no cuts. The procedure can be completed under an epidural regional anaesthetic in around three hours, but patients can opt for a general anaesthetic with the agreement of their consultant. There is no need for an overnight hospital stay or a blood transfusion, making the HIFU option extremely attractive for those unwilling to go through the discomfort, convalescence time and side effects associated with more traditional surgical methods.
This treatment uses sound waves generated from a probe inserted into the rectum, which are focused on to an area roughly the size of a grain of rice. The probe scans the prostate and displays a three-dimensional image of the gland on a computer screen. Surgeons can then draw on the screen to indicate to the computer which areas to destroy and which to avoid
Next, the probe heats the designated tissue to 90șC in just one second, melting fat within cells and causing them to die. Using this method, it is possible to steer the beam away from the neurovascular nerves that are need to control erections, and avoid damaging the rectum and urinary sphincter.
HIFU is suitable for single tumours or large parts of a tumour and also in conjunction with other treatments. HIFU cannot be used to treat advanced cancers that have spread to other parts of the body, nor can its sound waves travel through air or bones, restricting the types of cancer that can be treated.
With 10,000 men dying from prostate cancer each year in the UK - and many more enduring the impact and side effects of conventional surgery - The London Prostate Centre at The Princess Grace Hospital offers a host of effective treatment alternatives.
For further information on prostate cancer treatments available at The London Prostate Centre, please see: www.prostatecancertreatmentuk.co.uk.
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