Leading Academic Institutions Collaborate on 800-Patient Study of Effectiveness of Cryoablation for Men With Recurrent Prost...( Cryoablation Offers Second Chance fo...),Health

Cryoablation Offers Second Chance for Patients Whose Cancer Returns after

Radiation

IRVINE, Calif., June 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Endocare, Inc. (Nasdaq: ENDO), an innovative medical device company providing minimally invasive technologies for tissue and tumor ablation, announced today that a group of the nation's leading academic institutions are collaborating on an 800-patient, multi-center, prospective study of the effectiveness of cryoablation on men whose prostate cancer has recurred after radiation therapy. The study, called SCORE (Salvage Cryotherapy Registry Evaluation) is being led by E. David Crawford, M.D., and Al Barqawi, M.D., both of the University of Colorado Cancer Center, and physicians from up to 25 leading medical institutions, including M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Loma Linda University, Washington University, the University of Tennessee and Maimonides Medical Center, are expected to participate.

Statistics show that 25 to 30 percent of men who undergo brachytherapy or external beam radiation treatments as a primary therapy for prostate cancer suffer a recurrence in three to five years. For these men, follow-up radiation therapy (also known as salvage radiation) and follow-up surgery (also known as salvage prostatectomy) can be effective but they invite additional risk and complications, according to Dr. Crawford.

"A substantial population of prostate cancer patients has the cancer return after radiation," Dr. Crawford said. "In my practice, salvage cryoablation has replaced salvage prostatectomy because it is less invasive and has minimal morbidity. Physicians have been recommending cryoablation in this circumstance for years and this study should provide us the
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