Men with prostate cancer could soon be offered sound wave treatment that rids 90 per cent of sufferers of the disease, while doubling their chances of avoiding debilitating side effects.
The therapy closely targets tumours, causing much less damage to healthy tissue than conventional surgery or radiotherapy. High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is already used in some NHS hospitals and private clinics, often to treat the entire half of the prostate where the cancer was situated […]
HIFU focuses high-frequency sound waves on to an area the size of a grain of rice.
The sound waves cause the tissue to vibrate and heat to about 80c, killing the cells in the target area. The procedure is performed in hospital under general anaesthetic and most patients are back home within 24 hours.
Dr Hashim Ahmed, who led the study at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University College London, said: ‘We’re optimistic that men diagnosed with prostate cancer may soon be able to undergo a day case surgical procedure, which can be safely repeated once or twice, to treat their condition with very few side-effects. […]
From: DailyMail
RSS FEED
FACEBOOK
TWIITER
TUMBLR