HIGH INTENSITY FREQUENCY ULTRASOUND ( HIFU) IN PROSTATE CANCER TREATMENT

High intensity frequency ultrasound or HIFU as it is known is another treatment option in prostate cancer. It is used mainly in Japan and Europe at present. Clinical trials are ongoing in the United States in an attempt to eventually gain FDA approval. It is  a recent alternative treatment for prostate cancer and doesn't involve any excision or incision. The HIFU machine delivers high energy and causing coagulation necrosis of the selected tissue without damaging the surrounding tissue.

At present, patients in the USA who want to undergo Hifu must travel outside the United States to countries such as Canada or Mexico where the treatment is offered in certain medical centers. 

To date, Hifu is being used in the treatment of localized prostate cancer and in salvage therapy (the treatment of recurrent disease) following radiation therapy.

A review of the medical literature shows that the short term and medium results for the use of Hifu seems promising but long term results data is not yet available. It is known that since Hifu is a non-invasive treatment modality that the side effect profile is excellent.

Because of the absence at present of long term data, the indications for HIFU are evolving but would include localized prostate cancer patients who:

-have estimated lifespans of less that 10 years;

- have other comorbid conditions which make the risk of prostatectomy unavoidably high;

- are obese.

HIFU is also being studied in the salvage therapy for recurrence of disease follwing primary therapy with radiation therapy. One of the advantages of HIFU is that it can be used a second time if need be.

There are 2 different commercially available devices on the market --the Ablatherm and the SonaBlate 500.