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17 Apr 2012

‘Exciting’ new treatment for prostate cancer

A prostate cancer charity tells Channel 4 News it is “tentatively excited” about a new treatment which, in a small study, produced fewer side-effects compared to traditional treatments.

Prostate cancer (Getty)

The study, which involved 41 men, was the first to use an experimental treatment known as HIFU (high-intensity focused ultrasound).

It targets areas of cancer which are only a few millimetres in size in a technique known as focal therapy.

Currently patients are treated with either with radiotherapy which targets a larger area, or surgery to remove the prostate completely.

Both methods cause damage to surrounding healthy tissue and can lead to side effects such as urinary incontinence, trouble with erections and rectal problems.

One year after receiving the new treatment, 95 per cent of the 41 men were cancer free, none of them had incontinence, and just one in 10 suffered from poor erections.

The results of the phase 1 study, funded by the Medical Research Council and conducted by researchers at University College London, are published in the journal Lancet Oncology.

Dr Hashim Ahmed, who led the study at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and UCL, said: “Our results are very encouraging.

“We’re optimistic that men diagnosed with prostate cancer may soon be able to undergo a day case surgical procedure, which can be safely repeated once or twice, to treat their condition with very few side-effects. That could mean a significant improvement in their quality of life.

“This study provides the proof-of-concept we need to develop a much larger trial to look at whether focal therapy is as effective as the current standard treatment in protecting the health of the men treated for prostate cancer in the medium and long term.”

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‘Tentatively excited’

Emma Malcolm, chief executive of Prostate Action, told Channel 4 News she is “tentatively excited” about the trial.

But she warned that funding would need to be secured to carry out further larger studies: “There is not nearly enough money for research into prostate cancer, unfortunately.

“It is underfunded compared to other big cancers.”

Lauren Wiggins, head of services at The Prostate Cancer Charity, told Channel 4 News it could still be years until this new treatment is available in the same way as radiotherapy, and even then it is dependent on more positive research.

“This was a small group of men”, she said.

“We don’t know the effects of not treating the whole prostate, this new treatment just targets a certain area and we don’t know what the results will be longer term.”

But she added: “We do look forward to ongoing research.”

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