New Novel Targeted Treatment for Prostate Cancer shows Initial Success

Example of Radiation Therapy

In a recent study published on April 17, the researchers at University College London Hospital found that an experimental procedure known as High Intensity Focused Ultrasound showed signs of initial success when treated on patients with pancreatic cancer. In the study, 41 males with pancreatic cancer were treated with a narrow, focused ultrasound beam that targeted only the prostate cancer. Of the 41 men that were treated with this procedure, none of the males had any side-effects (ie trouble controlling urination, etc). This new procedure illustrates the potential with which these new targeted therapies can help our population endure the devastating after-effects that surgeries can sometimes cause. (1)

Figure 2: Quality of Life Questionaire results after treatment.

The implications of this study illustrate that in the future, we might be able to treat people with prostate cancer in a more efficient and favorable way - leading to less side-effects and a higher quality of life post-cancer. As illustrated by the questionnaires asked post-operation, out of the 31 men that had a constant base-line readings, 26 were pad-free, and leak free or a success rate of 84%; essentially returning to a normal state of function after the procedure was induced (Figure 2). The chances of remission will be significantly reduced since the preciseness with which this procedure targets the cancer, it virtually eliminates the majority of the malignant tumor growths that takes hold in the prostate.

Although this study seems too good to be true, there are certainly drawbacks to this study. For one thing, the sample size tested with this innovative procedure was a small one, and one can’t extrapolate these results to encompass other individuals with prostate cancer, so more testing definitely needs to be done. In addition, when the treatment was taking place, some of the surrounding normal tissue was damaged as well. The scientists believe, however, that with more advanced technology in the near future, this problem can be resolved, especially with pre-operative MRI scans “...image registration of preoperative MRI to treatment delivery could further help to reduce destruction of normal tissue by allowing clinicians to more accurately define the boundaries of the target lesion (2).”

After reading about this study, a couple of questions popped into mind:
1. Can this procedure be extended to treat other forms of cancer as well or due to the nature of pancreatic cancer, it can only be treated by firing ultrasound beams at it?
2. How exactly is this technique destroying the cells? Especially at the cellular level, is there some sort of biochemistry or signal transduction pathway that gets activated and tells the cell to “apoptose” or is it much simpler than that - simply destroying the cell with a lot of energy input?