According to Miami urologist Dr. George Suarez, High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) is a promising substitute for traditional prostate cancer surgery for men with prostate cancer that is confined to the prostate gland. This form of therapy destroys cancerous cells with rapid heat elevation that basically cooks the cancer at approximately 70 or 80 degrees.
The temperature increases only at the central point, so the prostate gland remains intact. Unlike surgery or radiotherapy, HIFU is a non-invasive process that takes only an hour to perform, and it can be repeated at a later stage if necessary. Men who undergo the procedure in the morning are permitted to return home that afternoon.
The procedure is performed using a probe in the rectum, so there is no incision and no pain. 70 per cent of men claim to have their erection return within two weeks. Your Miami urologist reports that HIFU is typically tolerated very well with nearly no toxicity. A study with one-year follow up indicated that men returned to normal function after six months with no significant decline in continence or erection.
All men lose their erections at the time of the surgery because the tissue surrounding the prostate gets damaged. Whether this function comes back depends on age, normal erectile function, the stage of the cancer and the type of surgery performed.
HIFU is not a difficult procedure to perform but it´s as effective and more easily tolerated than other treatments. The procedure has been slowly introduced for prostate patients because new therapies require at least a week to evaluate, and time is needed to retrieve important data. It is only in the past few years that HIFU technology and the MRI of prostate has advanced enough to allow us to think differently about prostate cancer.
If you are interested in learning more about the HIFU procedure for the treatment of prostate cancer, call the office of best Miami urologist Dr. George Suarez today to schedule a confidential consultation. Dr. Suarez is a world-renowned HIFU expert, and has performed more HIFU procedures than any other urologist in the world.
