Tag: focal laser ablation

Radiation as a prostate cancer treatment is an alternative to surgery, especially for patients whose age or other health conditions means they’re not good candidates for surgery. There are other reasons for choosing radiation, especially among men who don’t like what they learn about the potential urinary and sexual side effects of prostatectomy or a keep reading

I came across a July 6, 2022 commentary piece published in Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).[i] It raises an interesting 2-part question about focal treatment for prostate cancer (PCa): For which patients is this approach effective in controlling their PCa, and how is cancer control defined? The three authors hail from Ohio State keep reading

“…any energy source can be applied to the super-active surveillance concept allowing more men to consider a tissue-preserving therapy for prostate cancer.” – Corradi et al. 2019[i] Thanks to a growing recognition among professionals that clinically insignificant PCa may never become life-threatening, a larger percentage of low-risk PCa patients are starting their treatment journey with keep reading

No doubt you’ve heard it before, and for sure you’ll hear it again. Radical prostatectomy (RP) is the “gold standard” of prostate cancer (PCa) treatment. Sounds impressive, right? When most people hear that phrase, they assume it means the best. However, a standard simply means a baseline against which other things in the same category keep reading

How can prostate cancer treatment affect your sex life? Let me count the ways: Damage to the nerves that control erection Loss of ejaculate due to gland removal or whole-gland ablation Loss of desire and/or erectile dysfunction as a result of androgen deprivation therapy Psychological/identity/self-esteem issues that affect performance According to clinical psychologist Leslie Schover, keep reading

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

We have occasionally posted blogs about the grassroots influence that prostate cancer (PCa) patients can have over trends in PCa treatment. For example, patient desire and demand for less invasive treatments that can diminish their quality of life played an enormous part in the evolution of focal therapies, such as our own Focal Laser Ablation. keep reading

Patients who choose robotic-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP) believe it’s the best way to eradicate prostate cancer (PCa). In their mind, this equates to a cure. In fact, PCa can recur (come back) as long as 15 or more years after any whole-gland treatment. Increasingly, no one talks about “cure” anymore. Instead, “success” is defined as 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

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