Effective Cancer Control with Focal HIFU

Focal High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) offers a targeted approach to treating areas of the prostate affected by cancer, providing an alternative to treating the entire prostate. For some carefully selected patients with clinically significant prostate cancer, particularly those with intermediate- or even some high-risk cancer, focal HIFU has shown promising cancer control outcomes over a medium-term follow-up of up to 7 years.

Comparable Results to Other Treatments

When comparing outcomes, HIFU delivers results at least as effective as other treatment options. For example, nearly 90% of patients treated with HIFU required no additional therapy 30 months after their initial treatment. This is slightly higher than the 82% salvage therapy-free survival rate observed in patients who underwent radical prostatectomy.

Fewer Side Effects and Improved Quality of Life

HIFU also has the advantage of fewer side effects compared to more invasive treatments like radical prostatectomy. In one study, despite being an average of 10 years older than patients in the radical prostatectomy group, HIFU-treated patients reported no significant differences in quality of life. Additionally, HIFU patients experienced a much lower impact on key functional outcomes, such as urinary continence and erectile function, compared to those who underwent surgery.

Strong Long-Term Outcomes

Long-term studies highlight the durability of focal HIFU treatment. The survival rates without requiring salvage therapy (such as surgery or radiotherapy), systemic treatment, or experiencing metastases or cancer-specific death were:

• Low-risk group: 96% at 5 years, 88% at 7 years.

• Intermediate-risk group: 88% at 5 years, 68% at 7 years.

• High-risk group: 84% at 5 years, 65% at 7 years.

These results demonstrate HIFU’s potential to provide effective cancer control while minimizing the impact on quality of life. They also show that some intermediate and high-risk group patients, should rather have HIFU Hemiablation or Whole Prostate HIFU to achieve even better long-term outcomes.

Cancer Control and Oncological Results