Is focal treatment for prostate cancer as effective in the long-term as radical therapies?

Focal therapy for prostate cancer, in which only the tumor tissue is treated with cryoablation (freezing), can prolong life, result in less complications such as incontinence, and improve post-treatment quality of life. But the long-term effectiveness of focal treatments has not been well-studied. A new analysis that followed patients treated with optimized cryoablation of prostate cancer for an average of 10 years post-treatment is published in Journal of Men's Health.

In the article "Long-Term Results Of Optimized Focal Therapy Of Prostate Cancer: Average 10-Year Follow-Up in 70 Patients," Gary Onik, MD, Carnegie Mellon University (Fort Lauderdale, FL), and coauthors found that long-term cancer control with focal cryoablation therapy was superior to radical whole gland treatments in patients at medium or high risk for disease-free survival.

More information:
The article is available free on the Journal of Men's Health website.

Provided by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc