Christian Chaussy

In one-third of patients, prostate cancer (PCa) is monofocal. These patients can undergo focal high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) therapy of the tumor without damage to surrounding structures and not compromising uro-oncologic safety. Robot-assisted HIFU coagulates the entire targeted volume within the prostate transrectally, in one session, without direct tumor contact and without adjuvant endourologic therapy. It is performed with the patient receiving spinal anesthesia and without blood loss; negative immunologic influence can be excluded. Heat-destroyed cancer cells that act as tumor vaccination are discussed. Right now, the limitation of focal therapy is caused by the lack of diagnostic accuracy to determine multifocal stages of PCa reliably. Discussions of tumor development, triggering primary lesion monotherapy, do not overcome skepticism about leaving invisible tumor foci untreated. This explains why PCa therapy today treats always the entire gland. Furthermore, the thought that the problem could be solved "radically, once forever," ignores the fact that in all PCa therapies, local recurrence rates are between 10% and 50%. Considering the longer survival of men in industrialized countries, a structured multimodal therapy concept should be created and evaluated in studies and should replace the competition between classic therapies. Focal therapy in most cases should be the first approach in cancer therapy because it is noninvasive, has low side effects, and is a single-session therapy. It does not exclude but may delay other, more invasive therapies in cases of cancer recurrence. Focal therapy should not be misunderstood as substitution for existing classic therapies but as a therapeutic first choice in monofocal, low-aggressive PCa cases.

The treatment of localized prostate cancer with high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has been researched since the 1990s and today the treatment is an actively used therapy for the disease. HIFU works in two ways to destroy tissue, namely thermal and mechanical effects. The most recent data on the Ablatherm HIFU device come from an international registry (@-Registry) and indicate a 5-year biochemical survival rate of 85%. HIFU is commonly used in conjunction with transurethral resection of the prostate in order to reduce prostate gland size and facilitate effective tissue destruction. An additional benefit of HIFU is that it can be used as salvage therapy after radical prostatectomy and external-beam radiotherapy. A new area of research with HIFU involves focal therapy, where tumor sites within the gland are directly targeted with the objective of reducing morbidity.

Extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL) has revolutionized the treatment of urinary calculi and became the accepted standard therapy for the majority of stone patients. Only for stones located in the lower calix, ESWL displayed a limited efficacy. Since the stone-free rate seemed to be preferential, endoscopic maneuvers like percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) and retrograde intrarenal surgery (RIRS) have been proposed as the primary approach for this stone localization.Stone size seems to be the most important parameter in regard to the stone-free rate, whereas anatomical characteristics of the lower pole collecting system are discussed controversial. Various studies show a good stone clearance between 70-84% for stones up to 1 cm in diameter. Additional physical and medical measures are suitable to improve treatment results. Stone remnants after ESWL, defined as clinical insignificant residual fragments (CIRF) will not cause problems in every case and will pass until up to 24 months after treatment; in total 80-90% of all patients will become stone-free or at least symptom-free.When complete stone-free status is the primary goal, follow-up examinations with new radiological technologies like spiral CT show that the stone-free rate of ESWL and endoscopically treated patients (RIRS) does not differ significantly. However, in comparison to endoscopic stone removal, shockwave therapy is noninvasive, anesthesia-free and can be performed in an outpatient setup. Therefore, ESWL remains the first choice option for the treatment of lower caliceal stones up to 1 cm. The patient will definitely favour this procedure.

The growing interest in high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) technology is mainly due to its many potential applications as a minimally invasive therapy. It has been introduced to urologic oncology as a treatment for prostate and kidney cancers. While its application in the kidney is still at the clinical feasibility phase, HIFU technology is currently used in daily practice in Europe for the treatment of prostate cancer. Literature describing the results of HIFU for prostate cancer is mainly based on several series of patients from clinical development teams. The latest published results suggest that HIFU treatment is a valuable option for well-differentiated and moderately-differentiated tumors, as well as for local recurrence after external-beam radiation therapy.

To decrease side effects observed after high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment for localized prostate cancer and to re-establish normal micturition in a patient population that often presents with concomitant prostate enlargement, the impact of a combined transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) and HIFU has been evaluated. TURP and HIFU treatments were performed under the same spinal anesthesia. For the HIFU treatments, the Ablatherm device (EDAP SA, Lyon, France) was used. Selection criteria for HIFU treatment were localized prostate cancer, no previous treatment for prostate cancer, and prostate-specific antigen (PSA) ≤ 15 ng/mL at diagnosis. All patients meeting these criteria were considered for treatment and analysis. PSA nadir and stability, histology, International Prostate Specific Score (IPSS) and IPSS-quality of life, and morbidity were assessed during follow-up; 271 patients were selected: 96 in the HIFU group and 175 in the TURP plus HIFU group. A statistically significant impact was observed on catheter time (40.0 days versus 7.0 in median), incontinence (15.4% versus 6.9%), urinary infection (47.9% versus 11.4%), and the evolution of the post-treatment IPSS (8.91 versus 3.37 in average) in favor of the TURP plus HIFU group. No significant changes were observed regarding efficacy during short-term follow-up when considering a 25% retreatment rate in the HIFU group versus a 4% retreatment rate in the TURP plus HIFU group. The combination of a TURP and HIFU treatment reduces the treatment-related morbidity significantly. The patient management after a combined TURP and HIFU treatment is comparable with the management after a single TURP.

At the time of diagnosis, prostate cancer is organ confined in 70% of the cases. A quarter of these patients undergo local therapy (surgery/radiation); 75% risk disease progression by "watchful waiting" or systemic side effects through hormonal ablation. Local high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), as minimal invasive tissue coagulation (85°C), ablates prostatic tissue with high precision. Since April 1996, 184 patients have undergone 232 sessions of transrectal HIFU therapy (average 90 min) under spinal anesthesia at 2.25/3.0 MHz, 50 W, and a penetration depth of 25 mm. The follow-up serum prostate specific antigen (PSA) concentration, sextant biopsies, International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), quality of life measures (QoL), and complaint registration provide the foundation for this clinical evaluation. Follow-up sextant biopsies (an average of 1.9) showed 80% of the patients to be cancer free. In men with residual cancer, the tumor mass was reduced more than 90%. The PSA nadir in 97% was <4 ng/mL, including 61% with values <0.5 ng/mL. After primary HIFU, no severe side effects (fistula, second or third grade incontinence, rectal mucosal burns) occurred. All patients had a suprapubic tube (average 29 days), and 33% needed a transurethral debris resection averaging 7 g. They were discharged within 23 hours. According to the short-term follow-up transrectal HIFU enables minimal invasive local prostate tissue ablation with high rates of negative biopsies, low PSA nadir, and low complication rate.

Local high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is a minimally invasive method of coagulation (85 degrees C) that ablates prostatic tissue with high precision. Over a 3-year period, 184 patients with organ-confined prostate cancer have undergone 232 sessions of transrectal HIFU therapy (mean duration 90 minutes) under spinal anesthesia at 2.25 or 3.0 MHz, 50 W, with a penetration depth of 25 mm. Follow-up sextant biopsies (mean 1.9) were cancer free in 80% of patients, and in patients with residual cancer, the tumor mass was reduced more than 90%. The nadir value of prostate specific antigen (PSA) was <4 ng/mL in 97%, including 61% who had values <0.5 ng/mL. After primary HIFU, no severe side effects (fistula, grade 2 or 3 incontinence, rectal mucosal burn) were seen. All patients had a suprapubic tube (mean 29 days), and 33% needed transurethral resection of debris (mean 7 g). Hospital discharge was within 23 hours after treatment. Transrectal HIFU enables minimally invasive local prostate tissue ablation with high rates of negative biopsies, low PSA nadir, and low complication rate. Further follow-up is needed to define the efficacy of disease control.