FDA approves new technique for “ablation of prostate tissue”

According to a media release issued by a Canadian company called Profound Medical on August 16, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the use of a system called TULSA-PRO for the “ablation of prostate tissue”. There appears to be no relevant information on the FDA web site — as yet. … READ MORE …

5-year follow-up after focal therapy with HIFU for localized prostate cancer

A new paper from the Emberton-Ahmed group in the UK has reported 5-year follow-up data from a cohort of > 600 patients with clinically significant, localized prostate cancer, all treated with focal forms of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). … READ MORE …

Targeted HIFU in the treatment of index lesions in localized prostate cancer

A new review article offers us some greater clarity related to the role of targeted, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) to treat carefully selected areas of the prostate to eliminate primary or index lesions while leaving the remainder of the prostate intact. … READ MORE …

Patient choice and the effectiveness and safety of HIFU

An interesting article has just been published in the Journal of Urology which helps to provide information (and context) about the quality of data supporting the use of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in the treatment of prostate cancer. … READ MORE …

The potential of shear wave elastography — an update

First and foremost, we would like to thank Prof. Ghulam Nabi of the University of Dundee for providing us with a preprint of the full text of his team’s article on transrectal SWE within about 30 seconds of receiving our request! That’s a record! … READ MORE …

Major US insurer to cover use of HIFU for treatment of radiorecurrent prostate cancer

According to a media release issued on March 18 by EDAP TMS, the US healthcare insurance firm CIGNA has agreed to cover the use of high-intensity focal ultrasound (HIFU) as a second-line, salvage therapy for men with radiorecurrent prostate cancer. … READ MORE …

Practical aspects of deciding whether HIFU is an appropriate treatment “for you”

An article by Julie Appleby of Kaiser Health News, posted yesterday on the STAT health news web site, asks whether high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is being “over-sold” to prostate cancer patients based on the limited outcome data currently available. … READ MORE …

Salvage HIFU in men with a rising PSA after first-line surgery

We have long presumed that it would be possible to consider high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) as a form of salvage therapy for men with biochemically recurrent disease after either surgery or radiation therapy. Now there are some data on this concept. … READ MORE …

Yet another new type of HIFU is now in Phase II clinical trials

Another breathless media release has announced enrollment of the first patient into a Phase II clinical trial of yet another new form of high-intensity, focused ultrasound (HIFU) in men with low-risk and favorable, intermediate-risk, localized prostate cancer. … READ MORE …

Let’s call this “new technology” what it is; it’s a form of HIFU

According to information in the Boston Herald earlier today, researchers at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston (one of the main teaching hospitals associated with Harvard University) are testing a new form of technology to treat localized prostate cancer. … READ MORE …

HIFU for hemiablation of localized prostate cancer

A major plenary presentation at the upcoming annual meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA) will provide data from a rather small French trial of  high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in the focal management of localized prostate cancer. … READ MORE …

5-year outcomes from a large cohort of HIFU-treated patients in the UK

For several years now, the Ahmed/Emberton-led research team in the United Kingdom (UK) has published the majority of the detailed outcomes data from treatment of men with localized prostate cancer using high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU). This group has now given us 5-year outcomes on a cohort of > 550 patients. … READ MORE …

Data from a prospective trial of HIFU-based hemiablation for localized prostate cancer

A new report provides data from a prospective, single-center, Phase II trial of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) in prostate cancer hemiablation as a form of focal therapy. The study was carried out in Belgium. … READ MORE …

The FDA’s perspective on the approval of HIFU in the USA

For those able to access the February 2016 issue of the AUA News, it carries an interesting article outlining the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s perspective on exactly why the agency decided to approve two forms of high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) technology for the transrectal ablation of prostate tissue. … READ MORE …

FDA approves EDAP TMS’s Ablatherm technology for HIFU therapy

As predicted, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration apparently approved the Ablatherm brand of equipment for high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) on November 9 for “the ablation of prostate tissue.” … READ MORE …