Health & FitnessRemedies & TreatmentsNew report says prostate cancer treatment "could have fewer side effects" New report says prostate cancer treatment "could have fewer side effects"
By Kate Morley - 01/07/2009
The Prostate Cancer Charity has commented on research published today (Wednesday 1 July), which suggests that using High Intensity Focussed Ultrasound (HIFU) to treat men with localised prostate cancer could have fewer side effects than conventional treatments.
John Neate, Chief Executive at The Prostate Cancer Charity, explains: “HIFU potentially offers a ‘third way’ approach to the treatment of localised prostate cancer - lying between radical treatment, for example, surgery and radiotherapy, that targets the whole gland, with the potential for damage to surrounding healthy tissue, and active surveillance that avoids this damage, but can leave a man coping with the anxiety of an untreated disease”.
He went on to warn that there was still much to be done before the treatment could be offered as standard: "Doctors researching new prostate cancer treatments have to balance the effectiveness of treatment in controlling cancer with the risk and type of side effects that the treatment may cause. For any new treatment to become standard practice, the effectiveness and side effects have to be described over the short, medium and long term. There are no short cuts to getting long term data. As HIFU is a new technology, that data does not yet exist and longer term trials are necessary, but these are promising results.
“Currently, there are a range of treatment options available for men with prostate cancer and it is essential that these men get access to the same high standard of care and are offered the choice of all suitable treatments, wherever they live in the UK. NICE clinical guidelines on the treatment of prostate cancer aim to ensure that men are able to access the most effective treatments and also those that can reduce the risk of side effects.
If further research into HIFU does prove that the treatment meets these criteria we would expect to see men receiving this option in line with national guidance.”