First, don’t get your hopes up on this treatment, there are some issues that will take some time to warm up (pun intended) here.
A report in a Scottish newspaper reveals some startling ideas about the treatment of prostate cancer. According to the report, GLASGOW (Scotland) doctors have introduced a revolutionary cancer treatment using ice to kill cancer.
Today, a Glasgow man became the first patient to opt for an advanced technique that promises fewer side-effects and an even chance of a cure.
Professor Hing Leung leads the National Specialist Prostate Cryotherapy Service, which carried out its first procedure at the New Beatson cancer centre at Gartnavel.
The surgery, under a general anaesthetic, involves inserting between six and 12 hollow needle-like probes into the prostate gland before passing Argon gas through them, rapidly freezing the organ to -40C.
The surgical team monitors the ice formation using ultrasound and, as soon as the organ is frozen, they defrost the area with another gas before repeating the procedure.
Professor Leung said: “Placing the probes is a bit like playing the old game battleships. The strategy is to cover the whole area using only a few points.
“The critical thing is the speed at which you bring the temperature down.”
The rapid freezing kills prostate and tumour cells, but the fact the frozen area is thawed soon after, coupled with passing warm fluid through the tube from the bladder, helps prevent damage to the surrounding area, reducing side-effects.
For those Americans who read this…the process is not new. This is what has commonly been referred to as Cryotherapy which has been done since the early 1990’s. The primary difference here is the method used to freeze the prostate. Cryotherapy uses ultra-thin needles to produce ice balls of extreme sub-zero temperatures. The doctor uses ultrasound to accurately guide insertion of the needles, precisely control the size and shape of the ice balls and monitor the freezing.
According to the Prostate Cancer Institute:
Cryotherapy is an option for prostate cancer patients who want to avoid major surgery or the risks of “watchful waiting.” Cryotherapy can treat prostate cancer patients in the intermediate and high risk groups (stage T2c or above) as well as those who have failed previous radiation treatment.
Recent publications showing 10-year data demonstrates safety and durable efficacy of cryotherapy for treating prostate cancer. Morbidity following the procedure is mild in comparison with other treatments, with the exception of sexual function impairment.
The most significant questions that men would have regarding this form of treatment (assuming the cancer is gone) relates to the side effects – Incontinence and Impotence. An excellent article is featured on emedicine from Web.MD that I’ll summarize here. The link will be provided below…
Cryotherapy impairs the penile arterial blood supply (Aboseif, 1997) and damages the cavernosal nerves responsible for erectile function (El-Sakka, 1998). This combined neurovascular insult results in impotence in 40-100% of treated patients (Bahn, 2002), depending on such factors as the use of multiple freeze-thaw cycles, the size of the ice ball generated, preoperative potency, the instruments used to assess potency, and the follow-up interval since treatment. Greater nerve regeneration is possible after cryotherapy than after surgery or radiation therapy; accordingly, some patients have reportedly recovered erectile function as many as 2 years after treatment. One report indicated that 95% of subjects who were potent before cryotherapy became impotent and that 5% regained their potency at a mean of 16 months (Bahn, 2002).
Ouch… Postprocedural potency is the quality-of-life domain for which cryotherapy remains clearly inferior relative to other local treatment modalities for prostate cancer. Until the return-of-potency rate improves, the risk of impotence will likely continue to be an impediment to wider use of this treatment approach among patients for whom erectile function is important.
SUMMARY: If prostate cancer has been effectively treated and erectile function is important…don’t use this route!
Issues with incontinence are essentially the same…significant problems.
CONCLUSION: The recent release is an old treatment with a repackaged method of delivery. It could be VERY EFFECTIVE as a follow up treatment method for me who have had a primary treatment method that failed. But, I would certainly seek multiple medical opinions if you are considering this for your primary treatment following an initial diagnosis for prostate cancer.
YOUR COMMENTS ARE WELCOME!
LINK PROVIDED HERE
Posted by chuckgallagher 
