A trial looking at high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) for prostate cancer contained in one half of the prostate gland

The research team found that HIFU didn’t cause many side effects, and that it is promising as a treatment for prostate cancer.

This trial recruited 20 men with stage T1 or T2 prostate cancer confined to one half of their prostate gland. Five men had low risk prostate cancer, and 15 had intermediate risk prostate cancer. Everyone taking part had HIFU treatment.

The most common side effects of treatment for prostate cancer are problems getting an erection (impotence) and problems controlling the flow of urine (incontinence). The research team found that after HIFU to one half of the prostate, only

• I out of 20 men (5%) had problems getting an erection
• 2 out of 20 men (10%) had problems controlling the flow of urine
• 1 out of 20 men (5%) leaked a small amount of urine when coughing or sneezing

They also found that the PSA level dropped from an average of 7.3ng/ml at the start of the trial, to 1.5ng/ml a year after treatment. They took biopsies from 19 of the men who took part a year after treatment. They only found a small amount of low risk cancer in 2 (11%) of them. One of these men chose to have further HIFU. The other chose ‘active surveillance’ rather than further treatment at that stage.

The research team concluded that HIFU is a promising treatment for prostate cancer, and that it has few side effects. They feel that following these results, more trials should be done to fully assess HIFU as a treatment for prostate cancer.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.