Prostate cancer trial shows fewer side effects
Small study of focal therapy by UCL shows dramatic fall in rates of incontinence and erectile problems after treatmentA new prostate cancer treatment could provide more effective for patients and have fewer side effects according to a new report.The study was the first to use an experimental treatment known as HIFU (high-intensity focused ultrasound) to treat areas of cancer which are only a few millimetres in size, a technique known as focal therapy.Focal therapy is similar in principle to the "lumpectomy" operation commonly used as an alternative to a full mastectomy in breast cancer.One year after treatment none of the 41 men in the trial had incontinence, and just one in 10 suffered from poor erections – both common side effects of conventional treatment. The majority (95%) were also cancer-free after a year.Researchers concluded that "focal therapy of individual prostate cancer lesions, whether multifocal or unifocal, leads to a low...
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