HIFU appears to offer cancer control in localized PCa patients

Transrectal high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) appears to offer long-term cancer control in patients with low- or intermediate-risk localized prostate cancer, according to a multicenter study published in the Nov. 5, 2007 online edition of European Urology.

A total of 140 patients (mean age, 69 years) with T1–T2 prostate cancer, a PSA <15.0 ng/mL, and a Gleason score  ≤7 were treated with prototypes or first-generation HIFU devices (Ablatherm, EDAP TMS, Lyon, France) between October 1997 and August 2001. Mean follow-up was 6 years.

Control prostate biopsies were negative in 86.4% of patients, according to senior author Albert Gelet, MD, of Edouard Herriot Hospital in Lyon. Median PSA of 0.16 ng/mL (range, 0-9.1 ng/mL) was achieved at a mean of 4.9 months. A PSA nadir of ≤0.5 ng/mL was recorded in 68.4% of patients. The actuarial biochemical failure-free survival rates at 5 and 7 years were 77% and 69%, respectively; actuarial disease-free survival rates at 5 and 7 years were 66% and 59%, respectively.