Focused Ultrasound Therapy
Focused ultrasound is a noninvasive, therapeutic technology with the potential to improve the quality of life and decrease the cost of care for patients with BPH. This novel technology focuses beams of ultrasound energy precisely and accurately on targets in the body without damaging surrounding normal tissue.
How it Works
Where the beams converge, focused ultrasound produces precise ablation (thermal destruction of tissue) enabling BPH to be treated without surgery.
Advantages
The primary options for treatment of BPH include medication and invasive surgery.
For certain patients, focused ultrasound could provide a noninvasive alternative to surgery with less risk of complications – such as surgical wound healing or infection – at a lower cost. It can reach the desired target without damaging surrounding tissue and is repeatable, if necessary.
Clinical Trials
There is a clinical trial using the Edison System for treatment of patients with BPH in Hong Kong.
There is a clinical trial using the EDAP TMS system for the treatment of BPH in multiple sites in France.
The Foundation updates these pages regularly, but with the increasing number of clinical trials, we want to be sure that our audience has the latest information available. Therefore, we also added the website search information for the above trials. If you click here, it will take you to the latest information available from https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/.
See a list of treatment sites >
See a list of laboratory research sites >
Find a Treatment Site
Search for a treatment center or clinical trial near you.
Regulatory Approval and Reimbursement
There are four focused ultrasound systems approved in the US for the ablation (destruction) of prostate tissue: Sonablate Corp, EDAP-TMS, Insightec and Profound Medical. Sonablate Corp and EDAP-TMS use the transrectal approach with ultrasound guidance. Insightec’s device uses a transrectal approach guided by MRI. A transurethral, MRI-guided approach is manufactured by Profound Medical, and it is approved in Europe and in the US. This has a AI component added to the treatment to make the treatment time more competitive with the other BPH treatments.
Treatment for BPH is approved in the US, Canada, China, Europe, India, Japan, Korea, Middle East, Russia, and South America. Insurance coverage varies, and many US companies may not cover this procedure.
Notable Papers
Aoun F, Marcelis Q, Roumeguère T. Minimally invasive devices for treating lower urinary tract symptoms in benign prostate hyperplasia: technology update. Res Rep Urol. 2015 Aug 19;7:125-36. doi: 10.2147/RRU.S55340. eCollection 2015.
Khokhlova VA, Fowlkes JB, Roberts WW, Schade GR, Xu Z, Khokhlova TD, Hall TL, Maxwell AD, Wang YN, Cain CA. Histotripsy methods in mechanical disintegration of tissue: towards clinical applications. Int J Hyperthermia. 2015 Mar;31(2):145-62. doi: 10.3109/02656736.2015.1007538. Epub 2015 Feb 24.
Thiruchelvam N. Surgical therapy for benign prostatic hypertrophy/bladder outflow obstruction. Indian J Urol. 2014 Apr;30(2):202-7. doi: 10.4103/0970-1591.126907.
Roberts WW. Development and translation of histotripsy: current status and future directions. Curr Opin Urol. 2014 Jan;24.
Sullivan L, Casey RW, Pommerville PJ, Marich KW. Canadian experience with high intensity focused ultrasound for the treatment of BPH. Can J Urol. 1999 Jun;6(3):799-805.
Click here for additional references from PubMed.