Finding out that you have been diagnosed with cancer can truly be devastating. You will immediately begin imaging all of the worst case scenarios that can come along with the disease. However, thankfully, advances in medicine and technology have lead to new treatments that have much higher success rates and much lower negative side effects. For example, in the case of prostate cancer, HIFU is a new treatment that has proven very successful in the men who have chosen in as their treatment option. The CMUA HIFU Center offers a specialty type of the treatment called Sonablate. If you are facing treatment for prostate cancer and you need to consider your options, you will have numerous questions about HIFU so that you can determine if it is the right option for your own case. Before you choose any type of treatment, it is vital that you understand more about it. Here are answers to common questions about this type of treatment.
Is Sonablate HIFU Surgery?
Many different types of cancer treatments will require a surgical procedure in order to remove cancerous cells. This is one of the advantages to choosing Sonablate HIFU through the CMUA HIFU Center. This is a minimally invasive and non surgical treatment. Most patients will be able to go home the same day as the treatment. This procedure simply uses targeted ultrasound waves to apply extreme heat to the cancer cells, which will kill them. The recovery time is drastically reduced since there is not a surgery involved.
Can Anyone Choose the Procedure?
Sonablate HIFU is a specialty treatment for certain cases of prostate cancer. You will need to discuss with your doctor whether you qualify for the treatment of not, but here are some of the preliminary parameters of the treatment and who could undergo the procedure at the CMUA HIFU Center.
- This treatment is used for localized cancer. In other words, the cancerous cells are contained to the prostate and have not grown to other parts of the body.
- The procedure can be used with recurring prostate cancer if the tumor is localized to the prostate.
Does this Procedure Use Radiation or Chemotherapy?
Perhaps the scariest part of cancer treatment would be undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments that are used to shrink and kill cancerous cells. These treatments are extremely difficult and they generally make patients extremely weak and ill. This is another advantage to choosing Sonablate HIFU. This procedure does not use either of the treatments. In fact, the side effects of the treatment are minimal and patients will find that they recover very quickly. Because radiation is not used, most patients will only need to go through one procedure in one outpatient incident. This saves time, health, and quality of life.
Will Sonablate HIFU Make Me Incontinent?
There are a couple of side effects that come along with most prostate cancer treatment. These would include incontinence and erectile dysfunction. Many people assume that they will simply have to deal with those side effects in the wake of successful prostate cancer treatment. While there is still a chance of both side effects, the chances are minimized immensely with the use of HIFU treatment. In the case of standard Sonablate HIFU, more than 90 percent of patients keep their continence and more than 70 percent of patients keep their erectile function. These are much more promising numbers than can be found in other procedures.
With the right answers, you can determine if this treatment through the CMUA HIFU Center is right for your case of prostate cancer. Thanks to this new technology, the treatment of the cancer can be much more successful and much easier on the body.
Dr. Kevin Blumenthal is a premier provider of HIFU treatments in the United States. Information about the treatment and about Dr. Blumenthal can be found at www.marylandprosdtatecancer.com.