Freezing prostate cancer does a man's...( SAN DIEGO Calif. (March 9 2009)The s...)

SAN DIEGO, Calif. (March 9, 2009)The so-called "male lumpectomy"a minimally invasive interventional radiology treatment for prostate canceris as effective as surgery in destroying diseased tumors and can be considered a first-line treatment for patients of all risk levels and particularly those who have failed radiation, according to studies released at the Society of Interventional Radiology's 34th Annual Scientific Meeting. Additionally, the use of 3-D transperineal mapping biopsy for determining the extent of prostate cancerwhen compared with the commonly used transrectal ultrasound (TRUS) biopsyheavily impacted how patients' disease was managed in 70 percent of the cases.

"Our data show that focal cryoablation is as good for prostate cancer control as any other treatmentincluding surgery, radiation and hormone therapybut it is less invasive and traumatic for patients, preserves sexual and urinary function and has no major complications. Interventional radiologists tailor treatment to each patient's disease. Instead of removing the entire prostate, or freezing the entire prostate or using radiation on the entire prostate, interventional radiologists can find out where the cancer is and just destroy the cancer," said study author Gary M. Onik, M.D., interventional radiologist and director of the Center for Safer Prostate Cancer Therapy in Orlando, Fla. "We've reached a tipping point: treating only the tumor instead of the whole prostate gland is a major and profound departure from the current thinking about prostate cancer," added Onik. With cryoablation, interventional radiologists insert a probe through the skin, using imaging to guide the needle to the tumor; the probe then circulates extremely cold gas to freeze and destroy the cancerous tissue. This minimally invasive treatment targets only the cancer itself, sparing healthy tissue in and around the prostate gland rather than destroying it, as traditional approaches do, noted the professor at t
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