Focal therapy is an effective method for treating prostate cancer, enabling patients to
remain cancer-free for up to 10 years.
A targeted and minimally invasive treatment for prostate cancer, it is effective in
delivering long-term outcomes for patients, according to a new study.
The UK study by researchers at Imperial College London and Imperial College
Healthcare Trust is the largest of its kind.
It reveals that 10 years after focal therapy treatment, only two men out of nearly
3,500 in the study had died from prostate cancer. This very low mortality rate
matches that of prostatectomy surgery and radiotherapy.
Around half to two-thirds of these localised cancers are suitable for focal therapy.
The treatment has a five-fold lower risk of side effects such as incontinence, erectile
dysfunction and rectal problems compared to traditional radiotherapy or surgery
because it only targets the areas of cancer.
This minimises damage to healthy prostate tissue and those nerves and muscles
next to the prostate which control urinary and sexual function.
The study involving 14 UK hospitals tracked 3,477 men treated for prostate cancer
between 2004 and 2024 using heat-based (HIFU) or freezing-based (cryotherapy)
focal therapies.
Results showed these treatments effectively managed the disease, even in higher-
risk cases. After 10 years, only 0.1% had died from prostate cancer, and 3%
experienced cancer spread outside the prostate, rates similar to those of surgery or
radiotherapy. About one-third needed additional treatment, but only 10% of those
who had two focal therapy sessions required radical surgery or radiotherapy for
persistent cancer. This compares favourably to the 15-30% recurrence rate after
surgery or radiotherapy.
The study provides the evidence needed to underpin frontline care and
strengthens the case for more centres to offer focal therapy so more men can
access it.
As part of its commitment to evaluating screening within the NIHR- and Prostate
Cancer UK-funded TRANSFORM study and ensuring that the harms of a future
screening programme are significantly reduced, the government announced £2.8
million in capital funding to expand focal therapy in line with the TRANSFORM trial
expansion throughout the UK.
Study author Dr Alexander Light, NIHR Doctoral Fellow at Imperial College
London and urology registrar at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: ‘The
results of our study are really encouraging. Ten years on, only two men in the study
had died from their prostate cancer, and many men have benefited from the
treatment, including men with more aggressive disease who would traditionally have
been told focal therapy wasn't an option for them.’
The study was supported by the National Institute for Health and Care Research
(NIHR) infrastructure and a research fellowship and was published in the journal
European Urology.
