A Cold Approach to Prostate Cancer Treatment
A Cold Approach to Prostate Cancer Treatment
85% of Men Free of Prostate Cancer 10 Years After Cryoablation
March 10, 2005 -- A prostate cancer treatmentprostate cancer treatment that destroys tumors by freezing them may be as effective in the long term as surgery or radiation.
"Patients who got this treatment often went back to their usual activities within two or three weeks," study researcher Fletcher Derrick Jr., MD, a urologist at Roper Hospital in Charleston, S.C., tells WebMD. The rate of problems related to the surgery was very low, he says.
Among 88 men enrolled in the study, 85% remained free of prostate cancer for a decade after having the freezing treatment, known as cryoablation or cryosurgery. This is the longest follow-up study of this prostate cancer treatment reported to date.
And the long-term side effects of cryoablation also compared favorably to more established prostate cancer treatments.
While all men were impotent immediately after having the procedure, about a third regained some natural potency without the aid of drugs within a year, Derrick says. Just 2% of the men had severe urinary incontinence, but 8% had some lesser degree of leakage.
The study was funded by Endocare Inc., which manufacturers a new generation of the guided probe machine used in the new prostate cancer treatment. It included prostate cancer patients treated with cryoablation between 1994 and 2004 at Roper Hospital.
The study was presented March 3 at a regional meeting of the American Urological Association in Charleston.
Although cryoablation has been around for decades, it has been slow to catch on as a prostate cancer treatment because complication rates were high with earlier versions of the technology.
Cryoablation is suitable for men who have not previously received prostate cancer treatment and whose prostate cancer has not spread. Men who have already been treated with radiationradiation can also receive cryoablation as long as the cancer has not spread.
The procedure involves inserting thin, temperature-controlled probes through the skin and into the prostate gland. In most cases the entire prostate is frozen, but researchers are also experimenting with directly targeting the cancer in men with single tumors.
A Cold Approach to Prostate Cancer Treatment
85% of Men Free of Prostate Cancer 10 Years After Cryoablation
March 10, 2005 -- A prostate cancer treatmentprostate cancer treatment that destroys tumors by freezing them may be as effective in the long term as surgery or radiation.
"Patients who got this treatment often went back to their usual activities within two or three weeks," study researcher Fletcher Derrick Jr., MD, a urologist at Roper Hospital in Charleston, S.C., tells WebMD. The rate of problems related to the surgery was very low, he says.
Free of Prostate Cancer 10 Years Later
Among 88 men enrolled in the study, 85% remained free of prostate cancer for a decade after having the freezing treatment, known as cryoablation or cryosurgery. This is the longest follow-up study of this prostate cancer treatment reported to date.
And the long-term side effects of cryoablation also compared favorably to more established prostate cancer treatments.
While all men were impotent immediately after having the procedure, about a third regained some natural potency without the aid of drugs within a year, Derrick says. Just 2% of the men had severe urinary incontinence, but 8% had some lesser degree of leakage.
The study was funded by Endocare Inc., which manufacturers a new generation of the guided probe machine used in the new prostate cancer treatment. It included prostate cancer patients treated with cryoablation between 1994 and 2004 at Roper Hospital.
The study was presented March 3 at a regional meeting of the American Urological Association in Charleston.
Cryoablation Not Popular
Although cryoablation has been around for decades, it has been slow to catch on as a prostate cancer treatment because complication rates were high with earlier versions of the technology.
Cryoablation is suitable for men who have not previously received prostate cancer treatment and whose prostate cancer has not spread. Men who have already been treated with radiationradiation can also receive cryoablation as long as the cancer has not spread.
The procedure involves inserting thin, temperature-controlled probes through the skin and into the prostate gland. In most cases the entire prostate is frozen, but researchers are also experimenting with directly targeting the cancer in men with single tumors.
Source...