TNM Staging System Results and HIFU Focal Therapy For Prostate Cancer
If your TNM T (tumour) result is T1 or T2 a, b or c, HIFU Focal Therapy can be considered as a viable treatment option. In some special circumstances T3a cancers are also treatable.
If you have had a biopsy to determine the stage of your prostate cancer you will have been given your TNM Staging System Results. If these results are conclusive they can indicate how large the tumour is, where it is located, whether the tumour has spread to the lymph nodes and if the cancer metastasised to other areas of the body.
These results will have a combination of the letters T (tumour), N (node) and M (metastasis) and a number to indicate the stage of each or an X if the result cannot be evaluated.
“Where appropriate HIFU Focal Therapy provides effective cancer control with minimal impact upon sexual potency or urinary continence.”
Mr Mark Laniado Consultant and Prostate Cancer Lead, Wexham Park Hospital, Berkshire
For a patient to be able to consider HIFU Focal Therapy as a viable treatment option the cancer tumour needs to reside only in the prostate and has not grown outside the prostate. In the TNM system these results will be indicated be the associated number score for the T (tumour) results. The TNM results where HIFU Focal Therapy can be considered as a treatment option are as follows.
- cT1 or pT1: The cancer is too small to be seen on a scan, or felt during examination of the prostate
- cT1a: The tumour is in 5% or less of the prostate tissue removed
- cT1a: The tumour is in 5% or less of the prostate tissue removed
- cT1b: The tumour is in more than 5% of the prostate tissue removed
- cT1c: The tumour is found during a needle biopsy
- cT2 or pT2: The tumour is found only in the prostate, not other parts of the body
- cT2a: The tumour involves one-half of 1 side of the prostate
- cT2b: The tumour involves more than one-half of 1 side of the prostate, but not both sides
- cT2c: The tumour has grown into both sides of the prostate
For TNM T (tumour) results of 3 or above the cancer tumour is also located outside of the prostate gland and is not suitable to treated with HIFU Focal Therapy, but in some special circumstances T3a cancers are also treatable with HIFU Focal Therapy.
The TNM N (node) and M (metastasis) results that indicate the cancer has not spread outside the prostate are as follows.
- N0 or NX
- M0 or MX
“Focal therapy will deliver a huge shift in prostate cancer treatment. Not everyone may realise it yet, but it’s going to have a massive impact.”
Hashim Ahmed, chair of NHS England’s Clinical Expert Group for Prostate Cancer and Chair of Urology at Imperial College London
If your TNM Staging System result is of the type where HIFU Focal Therapy is a viable treatment option then there may be no need for prolonged Active Surveillance, surgery or radiotherapy.
Below is a simple diagram outlining the different treatment options for prostate cancer and the risk of side effects for those treatments.
“HIFU is something people need to be aware of – I believe this treatment should be more widely available and more widely promoted. It wasn’t something suggested to me as a possibility by my urologist and I actually raised it myself. I would recommend HIFU and in fact have recommended it to others.”
Keith (The Focal Therapy Clinic Patient)Get In Touch
As a group of consultants we are passionate about all prostate cancer sufferers knowing about all of their treatment options.
Based upon the details that you know and can provide to us, we will send you a Plain English personalised preliminary suitability report for HIFU Focal Therapy treatment of your prostate cancer.
You can use the information we provide in your conversations with your existing NHS and/or private treatment consultant. Should you wish to talk with us further we would be grateful to help you, but there is absolutely no obligation for you to do so whatsoever.