Focal treatment of prostate cancer
Common treatment methods for prostate cancer, such as radiation therapy and radical prostatectomy, treat the entire prostate. This can be accompanied by side effects such as impotence, incontinence and possibly damage to the bladder and bowel.1,2
Gleichzeitig bieten sie nur eine mäßige Verbesserung der Überlebenschancen im Vergleich zu Active Surveillance, also dem Beobachten und Überwachen ohne einzugreifen3. Recently, it was found that the largest cancer focus (called the index lesion) with the highest tumor grade most strongly influences cancer progression4,5. This suggests that it may be sufficient to treat this lesion6,7.
Therefore, minimally invasive focal therapies that allow precise treatment of the index lesion are also becoming increasingly popular as alternatives to traditional treatment methods. In addition to IRE, these include focal therapies based on thermal technology, such as cryosurgery, RFA (radiofrequency ablation) or HIFU (high-intensity focused ultrasound).
Electroporation spares surrounding tissue
IRE (Irreversible Electroporation) is a new form of focal therapy that has clear advantages over other focal therapy methods:
Because IRE does not ablate tissue with heat and is tissue selective to a certain extent, it spares the surrounding tissue and organs. Because of this, IRE has the potential to become not only a standard focal therapy for prostate cancer, but also a treatment option in cases that would otherwise be untreatable or where other therapies would result in permanent damage.
Other focal treatment methods:
- Cryotherapy
- HIFU (high-intensity focused ultrasound)
- Radio Frequency Ablation
- Photodynamic therapy