Prostate cancer can now be treated sans radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery. A urologist in Miami has developed a treatment that introduces acoustic energy into the body which heats and destroys cancer cells in the prostate.
Esteemed US-based urologist George M. Suarez has been perfecting the High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound treatment for over 15 years. Medscape noted that HIFU was just approved by the Food and Drug Administration in late 2015. Now, Suarez and his team are busy discovering new ways on how the technology can treat prostate cancer even in its most advanced stages.
Dubbed as the foremost expert on HIFU treatment, Suarez has treated thousands of prostate cancer patients in the last ten years. He told WND that with HIFU, doctors can zero in on a particular cancer area that needs treatment. In this aspect, the new FDA-approved procedure is eons ahead of radiation therapy, chemotherapy and surgery.
"The treatments that are available today for advanced stage prostate cancer are mostly palliative. Even with surgery, you can have a PSA reoccurrence of the cancer." he explained. "The problem with radiation therapy is that you can only have radiation therapy one time in your life." He said radiation therapy can also increase the chances of developing another form of cancer such as bladder cancer or leukemia.
HIFU treatments might be effective in crushing certain clumps of cancerous cells, but the technology has a long way to go before treating metastatic prostate cancer. According to Web MD, metastatic prostate cancer is when the cancer has already spread to different parts of the body.
Suarez said he is working on a method in which HIFU can treat metastatic prostate cancer. He pointed out that during HIFU, the body release a protein called heat-shock proteins. He plans to manipulate these cells so they would act as potent antibodies against prostate cancer.
