Targeted prostate cancer treatment cuts risk of side effects, study suggests

A less invasive therapy for prostate cancer is just as effective as surgery or radiotherapy but with a lower risk of side effects, a major study suggests.

The treatment, called focal therapy, uses high-intensity ultrasound or freezing cryotherapy to destroy cancerous tissue. A 10-year NHS study led by Imperial College London followed nearly 3,500 men who received the therapy, providing long-term data that medical regulators had previously said was missing.

Nearly all the men had intermediate or high-risk prostate cancer. Ten years after treatment, only two had died from the disease. These outcomes are as good as surgery or radiotherapy, but with less than half the risk of side effects such as urine leakage or loss of sexual function.

Researchers say the findings are excellent and are likely to add to pressure for focal therapy to be made more widely available. Currently only about 1,000 men a year in the UK receive it, despite there being up to 15,000 who could benefit.

The therapy is not suitable for men whose cancer is in multiple parts of their prostate or has spread beyond the gland.

Gilbert