A Minimally Invasive Treatment Option for Prostate Cancer
The goal of prostate cancer treatment is to destroy your cancer cells while leaving your healthy cells and tissue alone. At the Eugene M. & Christine E. Lynn Cancer Institute, we have the technology that makes this possible.
If you have early-stage prostate cancer that hasn’t spread elsewhere, our prostate cancer experts may recommend high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to attack and treat your disease. This minimally invasive, outpatient treatment can destroy your prostate cancer with no cutting, no surgery and no radiation. Plus, you’ll have a lower risk of side effects.
What is High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound?
HIFU technology, like our Focal One® Robotic HIFU system, works like rays of sunlight that pass through a magnifying glass and concentrate on a specific spot. By focusing high-intensity ultrasound waves on specific cancer cells, HIFU heats up and kills the cells without harming any surrounding healthy cells. Basically, the sound waves hit your cancer cells fast enough to make them hot, take away their blood supply and destroy them.
Advantages of HIFU Treatments
HIFU technology has been around for decades. It’s a safe, proven, precise technology that won’t affect your nerves and muscles. So, it’s the ideal tool to attack only your prostate cancer cells.
Our Focal One® HIFU is a state-of-the-art system that lets us personalize prostate cancer treatment based on your specific cancer and anatomy. Using real-time imaging, we target your cancer cells in one session while you’re under general anesthesia. We can repeat the procedure if needed.
Recent research shows Focal One® is as effective as traditional prostate cancer treatments. But it produces fewer negative side effects. A large 46-center, 3,000-patient study showed that men treated with Focal One® had less incontinence and better erectile function than men who underwent radical prostatectomy — removal of the prostate.
Overall, HIFU treatment offers several benefits, including:
- Better quality of life with minimal time away from work and the activities you enjoy most
- Low risk of side effects, including incontinence and erectile dysfunction
- Noninvasive procedure with no blades, cuts, scars or radiation
What to Expect with Focal One® HIFU Treatment
Your Focal One® HIFU treatment will take between 45 minutes to one hour. We will put you under general anesthesia, so you won’t feel or remember anything. But you will need someone to drive you home after the procedure. Once you’re asleep, our experts use an ultrasound probe inserted into your rectum to gather real-time images and create a 3D reconstruction of your prostate.
We combine this model with your MRI images and biopsy studies to pinpoint the exact location of your cancer. Our experts plan out every step of your procedure. The Focal One® system uses that plan to determine how many lesions you have and produces HIFU waves to destroy those cells.
After your treatment, we place a temporary catheter — a thin, flexible tube — in your urethra. The catheter will make it easier for you to go to the bathroom and drain your bladder until any swelling goes away. You can go home soon after your procedure ends.
Your follow-up care starts a few days after the procedure. When you return for your first follow-up appointment, we will remove your catheter. To monitor how well you respond to treatment, we will do blood tests to check your prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels at three months, six months and one year. We will also take MRI images and perform additional biopsies, if necessary.
Meet Our Team
David A. Taub, M.D.
Director of Urologic Oncology and Robotic Urology
Frequently Asked Questions
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HIFU works best for early-stage cancer confined to the prostate. Your healthcare team will talk with you about whether HIFU is a good option for you.
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Before you come to the surgery center on the morning of your procedure, you will administer an enema to clean out your rectum. When you arrive for treatment, physicians use a general anesthetic so you will sleep through the procedure. Then, they insert an ultrasound probe into your rectum. This tool allows them to combine real-time ultrasound images with MRI imaging you get beforehand and your biopsy information. Your physician uses all this data to locate your cancer accurately and treat the problem area with ultrasound.
Following HIFU prostate treatment, we insert a temporary catheter in your urethra. This thin, plastic tube allows urine to drain from your bladder and can be helpful if you experience temporary swelling after your procedure. The catheter typically stays in place for a week or less. Your healthcare team will teach you how to care for it.
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We do HIFU treatment on an outpatient basis, so you can return home the same day of your procedure.
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The HIFU ablation procedure itself usually takes 45 minutes to one hour. However, we take time to prepare you before your procedure. And after your treatment, we make sure you’ve recovered from anesthesia before allowing you to leave. Because of the anesthesia, you will need someone to drive you home.
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You will have a follow-up visit five to seven days after your procedure. During this visit, your physician will remove your catheter.
We do blood tests to check your prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels three months, six months and one year after your procedure. These tests help us monitor your response to treatment. We also do a follow-up MRI.
