MDNews - Greater Boston

RECENT FDA APPROVAL ALLOWS LOCAL PATIENTS ACCESS TO NE W PROSTATE CANCER TRE ATMENT. FOR M A N Y Y E A R S, a nd for t he va st majority of patients, there traditiona lly have been two ma in approaches to the treatment of prostate ca ncer: surger y or radiation. Both, unfortunately, come with potentia l side e•ects, incontinence a nd erectile dysfunction being t wo of particular concern. Another treatment option that minimizes these side e•ects was recently approved by the FDA, and Greater Boston Urolog y has become the f irst practice in the a rea to of fer it to loca l patients. High-intensity focal ultrasound (HIFU) ablation of the prostate has been used for ma ny yea rs outside the United States, a nd more t ha n 50,0 0 0 pat ient s have a lready received the treatment globa lly. Physicia ns at Greater Boston Urolog y have performed the procedure many times before, but only on patients who were able to travel outside the United States for their care. "HIFU has been a round for the past 20 years in Europe, the origina l technol- og y having been developed in Germany a nd Fra nce." says Cli•ord Gluck, MD, FACS, of Greater Boston Urolog y. " We had been o•ering it in our practice for approximately five years but we had to perform the procedures in Bermuda or the Ba hamas. Then in October 2015, the FDA approved HIFU for use in the United States so we are now able to bring it here." HIFU grew out of the idea of lithotripsy, the very common process of using extra- corporea l shock waves to brea k down kidney stones. Ta king the same idea of using energ y to cha nge tissue, it wa s discovered that physicia ns cou ld use several ultrasound waves at low intensity, which individua lly could pass through the body without doing a ny ha rm, a nd focus them onto a precise area in order to burn a piece of tissue. The process is simila r to using a mag nif ying glass to focus sunlight. There a re t wo dif ferent systems of HIFU. The one available at Greater Boston Greater Boston Urology Becomes First in the Region to Offer HIFU BY K AREN ELLERYJONES From left to right, John Rewcastle, from EDAP, HIFU pioneer Stefan Thüroff, MD, as well as Clifford D. Gluck, MD, and James Lin, MD, of Greater Boston Urology 0 6C O V E R S T O R Y 0 6

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