Meeting Report: 2022 American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting

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Key Points

  • The 2022 American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting was held in New Orleans from May 13–16.
  • There were two educational offerings and 13 abstracts that involved high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU).
  • Three of the HIFU manufacturers in the prostate space participated in the meeting.

The 2022 American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting was held in New Orleans from May 13–16.

According to the AUA Daily News Online, “Focal ablation is one of the hottest topics in urology today, driven in large part by direct-to-consumer marketing.” As one form of focal ablation, high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) was an active part of many conversations, papers, and poster presentations. During the plenary session entitled, “Second Opinion: Focal Therapy for Prostate Cancer: Should it Replace Standard of Care,” with Drs. Michael Koch, Kelly Stratton, and Scott Eggener, the speakers concluded that although focal therapy does not have the long-term data of greater than eight years found with radiation therapy and surgery, the results to date suggest that it should be considered in the mix of standard-of-care treatments.

In addition, there were two educational offerings that included HIFU:

“Sonablate, Profound Medical, and EDAP all made a big impact at this year’s AUA meeting,” said Mark Carol, MD, a senior consultant at the Focused Ultrasound Foundation. “The urology community is beginning to make strides toward more aggressively addressing focal disease, and this is the area where HIFU offers the triple advantages of effectiveness, low cost, and fewer side effects.”

In a company press release, Sonablate Corporation described its participation in the meeting, including mention in a best poster presentation. The poster described the publication titled “Cancer Control Outcomes Following Focal Therapy Using High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound in 1379 Men with Nonmetastatic Prostate Cancer: A Multi-institute 15-year Experience,” was authored by Deepika Reddy, MD, Prof. Hashim Ahmed, and Prof. Mark Emberton from Imperial College London. The data supported the use of Sonablate HIFU for focal prostate ablation and showed favorable medium-term disease control.

Another therapeutic ultrasound company, Profound Medical, shared in its press release that its platform, TULSA-PRO, was highlighted in multiple clinical presentations and product demonstrations at AUA 2022. TULSA-PRO is used to treat patients with prostate cancer and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). One plenary session featured Kenneth A. Goldberg, MD, an assistant professor of urology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, performing a semi-live TULSA procedure.

There were 13 abstracts that included HIFU data, as listed below. All abstracts can be searched and accessed on the AUA website.

  • MP22-08: Less is More in the Management of Proximal Stricture Disease after Prostate Cancer Treatment
  • MP22-09: Urethral Stricture/Stenosis as a Complication of High Intensity Focused Ultrasound of the Prostate: What is the Overall Patient Experience?
  • MP55-01: Cancer Control Outcomes Following Focal Therapy using HIFU in 1,379 Men with Non-Metastatic Prostate Cancer: A Multi-Institute 15-Year Experience
  • MP55-02: Repeat Focal Therapy of Prostate Cancer
  • MP55-04: The Predictive Value of Tissue Change during Ultrasound Guided High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (USgHIFU) Focal Therapy on Treatment Success
  • MP55-06: Focal Ablative Salvage Therapy for Radio-Recurrent Prostate Cancer: 6 Year Oncological and Safety Outcomes
  • MP55-07: Partial Ablation and Total Ablation with High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) Compared to Radical Prostatectomy (RP): a Propensity Score-Matched Study (Abstract Withdrawn)
  • MP55-08: High Intensity Focused Ultrasound and Cryoablation Focal Therapy for Intermediate Risk Prostate Cancer: Oncologic and Functional Outcomes
  • MP55-11: Prostate Cancer Focal Therapy – Locations of Post-Ablation Disease
  • MP55-14: Salvage Robotic Radical Prostatectomy after Focal Therapy versus Radiation: A 10-Year Experience
  • MP55-18: A National Cohort Study of Cancer Outcomes Following High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound Treatment of Clinically Localised Prostate Cancer
  • PD54-07: Comparative Effectiveness Analyses of Salvage Prostatectomy and Salvage Radiotherapy Outcomes Following Focal or Whole-Gland Ablative Therapy (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU), Cryotherapy or Electroporation) for Localised Prostate Cancer
  • V07-09: Robotic-Assisted Laparoscopic Prostatectomy and Urethral Pull Through of Membranous Urethra to Bladder

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