Ultrasound Treatment or HIFU
This entry was posted on 2/25/2007 7:10 PM and is filed under The Ultrasound treatment.
Right after the biopsy results I began researching the treatment options. I was not alone. Friends like Ali Jenzarli and Earl Simendinger helped with leads and contacts.
It has been an interesting time – a time of learning what can be done when the effort is put into it. In a 48 hour period I have talked to the doctor who is leading the U. S. efforts to bring the Sonablate 500 Hifu to this country. I have talked to the top robotics surgeon in England. I have exchanged emails with the best known and most experienced Sonablate Hifu man in the world, Dr. Uchida in Japan. I have talked to the immediate past president of the
American Urological Association.
I have been pleased to find that these men, who are tops in their fields, will take the time to talk to an unknown patient.
None of the approaches sounded all that good. Each had its problems and possible side effects. One thing that was interesting is that when I read international journals I kept running into an option that wasn’t in the U.S. journals, ultrasound also referred to as HIFU.
This procedure has been used in Europe for 15 years, Japan for 8 years and for lesser amounts of time in other places like Mexico, Canada, Australia, etc. It is in stage 3 clinical trials in the U.S. but I am not eligible to participate.
The technique involves putting an ultrasound probe in the rectum. It then shoots beams which map out the prostate. After it is fully mapped stronger hi-intensity laser-like beams are then fired into the prostate. Each firing essentially roasts a small section of tissue. This is done repeatedly until the entire prostate has been destroyed. It takes anywhere from 2 to 4 hours depending on the size of the prostate.
15 to 30% of those who undergo this treatment will have a recurrence of cancer. Somewhere between 15 and 30% of the patients will have varying degrees of impotency problems. The incontinence issue has been improved upon and seems to occur with less than 5% of the patients.
One of the most painful aspects of this treatment is that medical insurance won't cover any of this because we are doing it outside of the U.S.
When it became clear that the main forms of surgery and radiation treatment were problematic for me, I started focusing on the ultrasound possibility. A personal discussion with an anesthesiologist at a party sealed the deal. He confirmed that while my heart disease wasn’t a huge risk factor, the combination of it with sleep apnea did create a significant risk for the use of general anesthesia.
After many calls, some email and some negotiations, we settled on Dr . Toyoaki Uchida at Tokai University Hachioji Hospital in Tokyo. He has performed more of these procedures than anyone in the world. He has also conducted a large amount of research and has article in numerous journals.
Unlike in our system, all my dealings have been directly with him not a staff member at the hospital. And get this, he insists on knowing our arrival time so that he can greet us personally in the lobby of the hospital.
