Focal laser ablation, the care of the future!
Prostate cancer, the incidence of which has increased significantly in recent years, accounts for about 20% of all malignancies diagnosed among men from 50 years of age. Currently the therapeutic protocol, in patients considered low-medium risk, consists of laparoscopic or robotic radical prostatectomy or external beam radiotherapy. However, these treatments are often heavily burdened by both functional (urinary incontinence) and sexual (erectile deficit) complications, which negatively impact on the patient’s quality of life. This is the reason why, in recent years, scientific research has oriented itself towards a series of less invasive and more patient-sized interventional methods. Prof. Federico Guercini, a specialist in Urology, who is currently working as a freelancer in the city of Rome, illustrates the latest frontiers in this field.
Prof. Guercini, what are the latest news on the subject?
From 2013 to 2017, a study on 187 patients was conducted in the Departments of Radiology, Pathology, Surgery and Urology of the University of Texas, concerning an alternative therapeutic technique, represented by the evaporation of prostate cancer with laser energy. This study, published in 2019 in the Journal of Vascular And Interventional Radiology, concerned patients with medium and low grade prostate cancer, treated with focal laser ablation of the lesion, Focal Laser Ablation (FLA), and reevaluated after 12 and 24 months . The result was that in 83% of patients, tumor healing was verified, with a significant decrease in PSA, and no further antineoplastic treatments were necessary.
Can you describe this highly innovative procedure?
The FLA provides for the use of a 300 micron optical fiber which, by emitting a laser beam, is capable of destroying the tumor with extreme precision and in an absolutely non-invasive way, thanks also to the magnetic resonance imaging and superimposed transrectal ultrasound. This method, not including the complete excision of the prostate, guarantees numerous advantages: the execution of the procedure on an outpatient basis with less psycho-emotional impact for the patient; the reduction of side effects with decrease / absence of post-operative pain; no impact on prostate and sexual function, often severely compromised by radical surgery; a rapid return to daily activities (at the end of the treatment the patient can return to his home with a bladder catheter that will be removed the next day). It is, therefore, a highly innovative technique, performed in Italy only at some University Clinics and in Rome by the Clinica Padeia, a national center of excellence that makes use of a team of highly qualified specialists in the treatment of all urological diseases.
For more info: federicoguercini.it
Phone numbers: 06.8070894 – 06.8074354 or Clinica Paideia 06.83600600
