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Hoag Hospital is giving men with localized prostate cancer an additional treatment option in the battle against disease with the introduction of Focal One, a noninvasive robotic High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) technology.
An advanced technology that precisely targets cancerous prostate tissue, HIFU allows urologic surgeons to ablate, or destroy, just the diseased portion of the prostate. The result is a cancer treatment without many of the side effects that come with treating the entire prostate, including urinary and erectile side effects.
“Hoag is a leader in introducing evidence-based technology that advances care and improves patients’ quality of life,” said Jeffrey C. Bassett, M.D, M.P.H., Benjamin & Carmela Du Endowed Chair in Urologic Oncology. “There is now ample evidence to support that this technology allows us to ablate a smaller portion of the prostate, which lessens the damage to surrounding healthy tissue.”
Surgeons compare the procedure to a lumpectomy versus a mastectomy in breast cancer.
“Analogous to a woman choosing a lumpectomy for her breast cancer, not all men with localized prostate cancer want or need the entirety of their prostate treated,” said Hoag urologic oncologist Daniel Su, M.D.
Those most likely to benefit from this new treatment are men with smaller volume low or intermediate risk disease, including some men on active surveillance, according to Dr. Bassett. Hoag was an early adopter of active surveillance for men with non-lethal prostate cancer. In safely monitoring men with slow-growing cancers, the potential side effects of treatment are mitigated, helping to maintain a better quality of life.
As successful as active surveillance is, some men aren’t comfortable with the approach either at the time of diagnosis or in the long term.
“HIFU gives men a treatment option with a low risk of urinary and sexual dysfunction when contending with a slow-growing and non-lethal cancer,” said Dr. Su.
Funded through philanthropy, Focal One HIFU combines real-time ultrasound image guidance with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and biopsy data presented in 3D. Using a transrectal probe, the surgeon navigates to the tumor, directs high intensity ultrasound energy at the target area and ablates only the cancerous portion of the prostate. No incisions are made.
The introduction of this technology represents the latest in Hoag’s commitment to image-guided technology that enables physicians to provide precise, targeted treatment.
Hoag’s multidisciplinary team works with men to help tailor the most appropriate treatment approach to them. Hoag was the first hospital in Orange County to offer prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeted radiotherapy for metastatic prostate cancer, as part of Hoag’s Molecular Imaging & Therapy program.
The hospital was also the first in Southern California to perform minimally invasive prostate removal through a single incision. In fact, Hoag surgeons have performed the highest volume of single port robotic prostatectomies in the western half of the United States.
For more information about Focal One HIFU, visit www.hoag.org/hifu or contact the Institute at (949) 7-CANCER.
