Category: Focal Treatment & Laser Ablation

One of the ongoing themes in my blogs is the importance of matching a patient’s prostate cancer with the treatment for which he is best qualified. The lower the risk, the more treatment options will be open, possibly including focal therapy. However, “bulky” intermediate-to-high risk prostate cancer excludes focal treatment because it requires a more aggressive approach... keep reading

I am frequently asked by patients how Focal Laser Ablation (FLA) compares to Radical Prostatectomy (RP) in terms of cancer control. After all, many of the men with localized prostate cancer (PCa) who come to Sperling Prostate Center have already been told by a urologist that they qualify for a nerve-sparing robotic RP that will keep reading

PLEASE NOTE: Recruitment for the trial mentioned in this article has closed and the trial has concluded.   The energies that make up Magnetic Resonance Imaging are basically a magnetic field and radio waves. In their natural form, neither can be seen by the human eye. Likewise, sonic energy or sound waves are also invisible keep reading

It has been suggested that in multifocal prostate cancer (PCa), focal therapy to the largest (index) lesion is sufficient, because secondary non-index lesions are unlikely to contribute to disease progression.[i] In the world of urology, the belief that prostate cancer (PCa) is a multifocal disease has long dominated diagnosis and treatment decisions. Thus, treating PCa keep reading

In today’s medical fields, lasers are used therapeutically to treat a broad spectrum of disease as well as cosmetic conditions. As summarized by the Johns Hopkins website, lasers are now commonly used to debulk or destroy tumors, to seal blood vessels to diminish blood loss, in some eye surgeries and dental procedures, and to treat skin imperfections or lesions. Clinical use of lasers takes advantage of tissues’ light absorption... keep reading

Wouldn’t it be great if a patient with metastatic cancer could simply have the primary tumor treated—then all the others would miraculously start to disappear? Well, we don’t yet have the such clinical wizardry, but it looks the body itself has such a capacity! It’s called the abscopal effect (pronounced ab-SCOPE-ul). Studies are now revealing keep reading

The answer to the title question is, it takes collaboration and commitment among several parties who may not have identical interests. Nowhere is this truer than in the area of partial gland treatment for prostate cancer (PCa). After all, a mere 25-30 years ago, a subtotal PCa treatment was unthinkable. At that time, there were keep reading

Question: What’s worse than aging-related prostate enlargement that blocks urine flow? Answer: Going through a TURP to treat the blockage, only to find out after that you have prostate cancer. For men, a common side effect of aging is an enlarged prostate gland. You may not even be aware that this is happening until you keep reading

Everyone with cancer worries at some level that it might come back after primary (first) treatment. There is the natural fear of the disease itself, but there’s also a mix of accompanying anxieties. A big one concerns the choice of secondary, or salvage, treatment if the primary treatment didn’t work. While these fears are more keep reading

“Introducing the ultimate technology in Precision Medicine for Prostate Focal Therapy.” “TSPA is the only technology designed for Prostate Focal Therapy” These bold claims announce the availability of Tissue Sparing Prostate Ablation (TSPA), known by its brand name as Encage. Encage uses a specific type of radiofrequency ablation (RFA), which basically cooks a tumor by keep reading