New Hope For Prostate Cancer Patients Where Radiation Treatment Has Failed

NEW YORK, Dec. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- William Orovan, MD, urologist and Medical Director of Don Mills Surgical Unit in Toronto announced today that they have commenced offering Ablatherm(R) HIFU treatment to prostate cancer patients whose radiation therapy has failed and the cancer has returned. Radiation treatment cannot be repeated if a patient has a recurrence. In the case of these patients, the non-invasive Ablatherm(R) HIFU treatment offers new hope to those men who previously had no curative option.

Ablatherm(R) HIFU is a highly precise procedure using high intensity focused ultrasound to eliminate prostate cancer. Ninety per cent of patients can be treated by a single procedure usually lasting 1-1/2 to 3 hours. Patients are generally discharged a few hours after the procedure. There are fewer side effects with the Ablatherm(R) HIFU treatment than conventional treatments such as radical prostatectomy, radiation, and cryotherapy.

Ablatherm(R) HIFU can be effectively used on patients with localized prostate cancer (clinical stage T-1 or T-2) who would otherwise be considered curable by radiation or radical surgery. Patients may be candidates for Ablatherm HIFU who have had a recurrence of their prostate cancer but the disease has not spread.

"Ablatherm(R) HIFU is a promising treatment option with a curative chance for patients with local recurrence after external beam radiotherapy," said Dr. John Warner, an expert in HIFU technology. "Clinical studies indicate a greater survival rate with the HIFU treatment as compared to other types of salvage therapy," he added.

How the HIFU Procedure Works

During the procedure an Ablatherm(R) HIFU probe is placed into the rectum after administration of spinal anesthesia. A high intensity focused beam of ultrasound is directed into the prostate, which rapidly raises the temperature of the prostate to 85 degrees Celsius and destroys the prostate tissue. By computer imaging, the prostate beam is focused to incorporate the entire prostate gland. The Ablatherm(R) HIFU procedure is completed without blood loss or exposure to radiation.

To learn more about the Ablatherm(R) HIFU treatment visit http://www.hifu.ca/.

Clinical Studies

A published study in the Journal of Urology (February, 2004; 63(2):297- 300) showed that 93% of patients had negative biopsies and 87% had stable PSA levels (less than 1.0) at 22 months. Overall 90% of all patients treated with Ablatherm(R) HIFU require only one treatment and with complication rates lower than surgery, radiation, or cryotherapy.

Ablatherm(R) HIFU has shown to be an effective treatment for recurrent prostate cancer. Published results in the Journal of Urology (April, 2004; 63(4):625-9) show that 80% (57 patients) of 71 consecutive unsuccessful external beam radiation therapy patients had negative biopsies at a mean follow-up time at 14.8 months (range 6-86 months). There was zero incidence of rectal fistulae. Unlike treatment with salvage cryotherapy or salvage surgery there have been zero incidents of rectal fistulae in patients treated with Ablatherm(R) HIFU since 2003.

About the Don Mills Surgical Unit in Toronto

The Don Mills Surgical Unit is a private surgical facility that is licensed by the Province of Ontario. It is under the direction of Dr. William Orovan, a board certified urologist and chair of the Department of Surgery, McMaster University. Additionally, Dr. Orovan is the former president of the Ontario Medical Association.