About focal therapy
Focal therapy is a targeted treatment approach for prostate cancer that focuses on treating only the specific areas of the prostate affected by cancer, rather than the entire gland. It can preserve more healthy tissue and minimise the side effects associated with more aggressive treatments, including impotence and incontinence.
Preserve your quality of life with targeted prostate cancer treatment.
Our focal therapy treatments
Focal therapy refers a group of techniques that use your MRI and other scan results to guide your surgeon, ensuring that they only damage your tumour. The location of your tumour within your prostate gland and the overall size of your prostate gland usually determines what type of focal therapy is right for you.
HIFU
High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) uses ultrasound waves to target cancer in the lower, or posterior, part of your prostate.
NanoKnife
NanoKnife uses electrical pulses to target the upper, or anterior, part of your prostate.
What are the different types of focal therapy?
Benefits of focal therapy
Focal therapy targets the tumour within your prostate, instead of removing the whole gland.
This means that the nerves that control your erections and bladder control are less likely to be damaged during the procedure, so you are less likely to experience long term incontinence and impotence.
This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Read more.
At one year after one focal therapy treatment
Clinically significant cancer eliminated*
Men retain erections*
Men are fully continent*
*Based upon a review of 270 patients who all had treatment at The Focal Therapy Clinic using advanced MRI-ultrasound fusion technology to ensure treatment accuracy
Effective localised targeting
Focal therapy doesn’t just rely on the expertise of your surgeon. Your MRI scan of your tumour is overlayed onto a live ultrasound scan, which is monitored throughout your procedure. This means that we can see exactly where your tumour is, ensuring we target it more effectively and destroy it more efficiently.
All kinds of focal therapy are non-invasive, so you can return to work or day-to-life more quickly. Focal therapy isn’t usually painful, although you might be sore whilst you recover.
This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Read more.
What happens during focal therapy?
“[Marc Laniado, my Focal Therapy Clinic consultant] described the possible side effects….and basically it was a no brainer to have the focal therapy because that obviously carried the least side effects and, because of the cancer, he said he felt that it would be very successful.”
Brian Bishop
The Focal Therapy Clinic patient
Does focal therapy work?
Research has shown that focal therapy has similar clinical outcomes over 8 years to traditional prostate cancer treatments, but with vastly reduced side effects. Our own data shows we can eliminate clinically significant cancer at 1 year in 90.3% of our patients with a single treatment.
What we don’t have yet for focal therapy is randomised, clinical trial data. In a randomised trial, everyone taking part has to agree to have whichever treatment they are randomly assigned. For focal therapy, this would most likely be either focal therapy or a radical prostatectomy. For most people, if they know they are suitable for focal therapy they aren’t willing to accept the side effects that might come with a prostatectomy. This makes ‘gold standard’ trials very difficult.
However, lots of research has shown that focal therapy is safe and effective. This includes research from leading medical institutions, such as University College London Hospital, Imperial College London, University of Southern California and many others.
Am I eligible for focal therapy?
Focal therapy is usually only considered for localised prostate cancer. We can also only make a definitive judgement after we’ve reviewed your test results, include PSA level and MRI scan. Whether focal therapy is suitable for you and your cancer depends on a number of factors, but generally:
- Your Gleason score is 7 or less
- Your PSA is less than 15
- Your prostate cancer is confined within the prostate gland
Our expert urologists will be able to guide you on your treatment options after your initial consultation. They will look at your PSA, your Grade/Gleason score and biopsy results. We will also independently review your mpMRI scan.
Any questions?
If you’ve got any questions about your prostate cancer diagnosis or want to know more about HIFU or NanoKnife, don’t hesitate to get in touch with our friendly, knowledgeable team.
