Prostate Cancer Laser Treatment 'Truly Transformative' [STUDY]

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Surgeons have described a new treatment for the early stage of prostate cancer as "truly transformative". The approach, tested across Europe, uses lasers and a drug made from deep sea bacteria to eliminate tumors, but without causing severe side effects.

The Trial was conducted on 413 men and nearly half of them had no remaining trace of cancer afterwards. Life-long impotence and incontinence often result after treating prostate cancer with surgery or radiotherapy.

Up to nine of 10 patients develops erectile malfunction and up to a fifth struggle with the inability to control their bladders. That is why most people diagnosed with an early stage of the tumor, usually choose to "wait and see" and only seek treatment when it starts growing aggressively.

Prof Mark Emberton, who tested the technique at University College, London said "This changes everything". This new treatment uses a drug which is made from bacteria that live in almost total darkness of the seafloor and which only becomes toxic when exposed to light.

Ten fiber optic lasers are inserted through the perineum, the gap between the anus and the testes and then into the cancerous prostate gland. The drug is activated to kill the cancer and leaves the healthy prostate behind by switching on the red lasers, according to 4younews.

The trial was conducted at 47 hospitals across Europe. The result showed that 49% of patients went into complete remission. During the follow-up trials, only 6% of the patients needed to have the prostate removed, while 30% of patients did not a new therapy.

The impact of the trial on sexual activity and urination lasted no more than three months and none of the men had significant side effects after two years. Gerald Capon, a 68-year-old from West Sussex Says,

"I am totally cured and free of the cancer. I feel incredibly lucky that I was accepted for the trial... I feel that my life ahead is worry free." Gerald was discharged from the hospital the day after his treatment, According to BBC.

Prof Emberton said, the technology could be as significant for men as the development from removing the whole breast to just the lump in women with breast cancer. He added that traditionally the decision to have treatment has always been a balance of benefits and harm.

He continued to say the harms have always been the side effects which include urinary incontinence and sexual difficulties in the majority of men. It is truly transformative to have a new treatment can be administered to men who are eligible, which is virtually free of those side effects.

More than 46,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer in the UK every year. Although, the tumors tends to grow slowly, but still up to 11,000 men die from the disease each year. The new treatment is not yet available to patients but will be assessed by regulators early next year.

Other therapies used to treat prostate cancers, such as focused ultrasound also known as focal Hifu, have a lower risk of side effects, but these treatments are not universally available.

The technology could help men who face the conundrum of whether or not to have treatment, Dr Matthew Hobbs, from the charity Prostate Cancer UK, says. He added that the focal therapy treatments just like this one have the potential to offer a middle ground option for men whose cancer has not spread outside the prostate.

The next challenge would be to find out which patients should still "wait and see", which ones should have this kind of therapy, and which should have more invasive treatments. He said until the answers are clear, it is important to ensure that these results do not lead to over treatment of men with low risk cancer, or under treatment of men with higher risk.

The technology was developed at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel alongside Steba Biotech. The study is published in The Lancet Oncology.