For the first time, local doctors are providing a new prostate cancer treatment using water vapor that is expected to minimize side effects typically associated with treatment.
But doctors said it will likely be usable for a small group of patients and is still evolving.
Robert Given, an oncologist at Urology of Virginia and a professor at Eastern Virginia Medical School, performed the first water vapor ablation procedure for prostate cancer outside of a clinical trial on the East Coast in Virginia Beach Monday.
The treatment uses heated steam delivered through the urethra to destroy targeted areas of prostate tissue. Unlike traditional surgery or radiation, which treat the entire prostate and may carry risks of urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction, Given said the technique focuses on localized tumors in patients who were diagnosed early.
“You're treating the area where you know the cancer is,” he said.
The main advantage, according to Given, is fewer side effects. By targeting tumors that are confined to one part of the prostate, the treatment may help preserve surrounding nerves and maintain as much prostate function as possible.
Because of that, the treatment is limited to a smaller group of patients. Given said fewer than 25% of prostate cancer patients are likely to be good candidates.
The procedure is part of a growing group of treatments known as focal therapies, which aim to treat only the cancerous portion of the prostate rather than the entire gland.
The treatment was studied in a two-year clinical trial involving more than 200 patients nationwide, including roughly 15 treated at Urology of Virginia.
Given said complication rates in the study were relatively low, with erectile dysfunction reported in fewer than 10% of patients and minimal urinary incontinence, though some patients still had residual cancer and required repeat treatment.
Studies show that around 50% to 70% of men who undergo traditional prostate surgery experience erectile dysfunction, with lower but still significant rates reported for radiation therapy.
The use of water vapor itself is not new. Similar technology such as aquablation has been used for years to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, a noncancerous enlargement of the prostate, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Given said the treatment could help address concerns about overtreatment in prostate cancer care, particularly for patients whose tumors are caught early.
“You can treat those patients with a minimal amount of side effects, and also ones that are caught early, that you can get rid of and hopefully keep their normal quality of life that they currently have,” he said
For now, Given cautions the procedure should be viewed as a new addition rather than a replacement for existing treatments.
