Ultrasound Treatment (HIFU) for Recurrent Prostate Cancer

Ultrasound treatment also called, as High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) treatment is a new type of treatment generally used for recurrent prostate cancer. Ultrasound treatment involves the use of high intensity ultrasound beam to destroy cancerous cells. Ultrasound treatment is used for treatment of stage 1, stage 2 and stage 3 prostate cancers. It is also used to treat the prostate cancer that has recurred after radiation treatment, freezing treatment and radical prostatectomy.

Ultrasound treatment is done on outpatient basis and under a spinal anesthesia. The patient either lies on his side or on his back with legs elevated, depending on the equipment used. A specialized ultrasound probe is then placed in the rectum. Live images of the prostate are viewed on the computer monitor to map out the exact area of prostate. These areas are marked on the computer and the ultrasound treatment begins.

The ultrasound probe gives off high intensity ultrasound waves and is focused on exact areas of prostate. These high intensity ultrasound waves produce intense heat that destroys the cancerous cells but without affecting the surrounding healthy tissue. Exposure time of the ultrasound beam is very short, even less than one second. The total time for whole ultrasound treatment is 2-4 hours.

After the ultrasound treatment, generally the prostate swells and therefore a catheter is placed through the urethra up into the bladder. It is placed for minimum of 2 weeks until urine flow through the urethra occurs naturally. You may experience some discomfort for few days. Even after the removal of catheter it may require months for urine stream to return.

The main advantage of ultrasound treatment over external radiation treatment is that only the focus point is heated, the area that the beam covers is unaffected. Only the targeted area is exposed to the heat. These ultrasound beams can be focused on a small area, as small as a grain of rice.

Since a very small area is targeted, a sudden increase in temperature can melt the fats in the cell membrane and denature the proteins. Because of this a small amount of tissue destruction can occur. Since ultrasound treatment is able to treat the prostate as well as surrounding tissue, it can also be used to treat prostate cancer that has begun to spread to adjacent areas. But ultrasound treatment is used to treat a single tumor or part of a large tumor. Therefore if the prostate is large in size, a hormone treatment may be required before performing ultrasound treatment in order to reduce the size of the prostate.

Since ultrasound treatment uses only ultrasound beams to kill the cancer cells it has less side effects compared to other treatments. Sloughing of prostate tissue and urinary obstruction may be the two side effects associated with ultrasound treatment.