ONCOLOGY
CUTTING-EDGE TREATMENT FOR PROSTATE CANCER Getting a prostate cancer diagnosis can be a frightening experience, but minimally invasive treatments such as NanoKnife offer hope of rapid recovery and continued quality of life
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More than 130 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer every day in the UK. There has been a sharp increase in incidence since the 1990s, and it is now the number-one form of cancer affecting men in the UK. Diagnosis with any cancer can be frightening, but, for many men, being told they have prostate cancer can also spark additional worries about their continence and sexual health.
Professor of Interventional Oncology at UCL and Consultant Urologist at the world-renowned King Edward VII’s Hospital in London. This is because, unlike more conventional forms of prostate cancer treatment, such as surgery and aggressive radiotherapy, NanoKnife targets only the cancerous cells, leaving the surrounding tissue and organ function unharmed.
The good news is that, as well as being one of the most common forms of cancer, prostate cancer is also one of the most treatable. Survival rates have trebled over the past 40 years, and new and minimally invasive treatments, such as focal irreversible electroporation, more commonly known as NanoKnife, have not only demonstrated excellent efficacy, but have also been shown to substantially reduce the risk of incontinence and loss of sexual function.
Precise treatment
“The risk of incontinence is not quite zero, but it is very, very rare – close to zero - with NanoKnife, and 90-95% of men undergoing the procedure will maintain sexual function,” says Mark Emberton OBE,
Professor Emberton has pioneered the use of NanoKnife in the treatment of prostate cancer over the past decade, and is currently the only consultant able to perform the therapy in the UK.
Treatment takes place under general anaesthetic, but, despite the name, there are no knives or incisions involved. Instead, needles are inserted through the skin and guided to the precise location of the tumour using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning. The NanoKnife machine then delivers high-voltage electrical pulses around the cancer, which effectively force the cells to self-destruct.
