Bermuda Prostate Therapy Hailed In US
A new method of treating prostate cancer being offered in Bermuda is being hailed as a better alternative to radiation, chemotherapy and freezing by leading American urologists, some of whom are sending their patients here and to other overseas hospitals for therapy while they await the results of clinical trials in the US.
The minimally invasive, high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment for prostate cancer has been available at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital since May when Bermuda joined more than 100 medical centres in 30-plus countries offering the innovative therapy. HIFU has not yet been approved for treatment of prostate cancer in the US by the Food & Drug Administration.
“It’s a paradigm changer,” Dr. Stephen Scionti, director of prostate cancer ablative surgery at New York University’s Langone Medical Centre in New York City, told Maryland’s on-line “Columbia Patch” newspaper. “Medicine’s very conservative. The field of urology is dominated by ideas that have been around for almost 100 years. The first operation to take the prostate out was described in 1904. That’s 106 years ago. Now all of a sudden we said we could cure this disease without surgery, without radiation, using something like sound waves.”
Dr. Scionti was the first American urologist to treat HIFU patients in Bermuda after the procedure was introduced here on April 30.
And Maryland urologist Dr. Kevin B. Blumenthal said pending FDA approval of the HIFU treatment, he has sent some of his patients to both Bermuda and the Bahamas for HIFU treatment.
“I’ve gone down to the Bahamas to get my patients treated,” he said. “They just opened a site in Bermuda, which is a little closer. A lot of people think that if it’s not one in the United States, it’s not good. That’s not always the case. Other parts of the world have been doing this for a while. This has been done in Europe, in Asia and South America.”
While here and in the Bahamas, Dr. Blumenthal said he not only cares for his patients, but also gains first-hand insight into how the procedure is administered.
“The waves are focused to a focal point, and at that point it creates energy up near 100 degrees Celsius, which kills the prostate cancer cells,” said Dr. Blumenthal, who works at Howard County General Hospital in Maryland. “It’s similar to a magnifying glass burning a leaf. It’s the same aspect with the ultrasound waves. Anything farther from the focal point is unharmed. But at the focal point, it creates the high energy that kills the cells.”
