CaP Focal Therapy Crossfire

Even though pathologically long regarded as a ‘diffuse’ cancer with multifocality that most often involves the whole prostate gland, the concept that there could exist an ‘index lesion’ in the prostate that dominates and dictates the biological aggressiveness of that cancer and the survival of that patient has evolved from merely a hypothesis to daily practice in many western countries, even though currently there is NO any guideline of prostate cancer treatment formally recommend it due to not enough high-level evidence.

Besides the complexity of letting the interested patients/family understand the RBAPC of focal therapy and the stringent protocol to follow after a focal therapy for a localized prostate cancer, the existent of multiple types of ablative energy in the market (e.g.: high intensity focal ultrasound [HIFU], cryoablation, irreversible electroporation [IRE], targeted microwave, focal radiation/brachytherapy; etc.) just makes the decision-making more challenging for both the patients and the urologists alike.

For a urologist involved in offering focal therapy for his prostate cancer patients, should he learn just one treatment modality and use it for all/majority of his patients (one size fit all?), or should he learn the tips and tricks of multiple treatments and tailor the therapy decision according the disease and anatomical details of his specific patients (custom-made?).

In this 90-min multi-side crossfire, experts with great experience in utilizing various treatments will first give a brief introduction of his armamentarium, then several cases of prostate cancer with different disease locations and severity, and prostate anatomy will be presented, and each panelist will answer if his/her equipment/instrument is a good choice for that case; why; any tips/tricks to do that specific case beautifully? After all panelists’ presentation, the commenter(s)/ moderators will challenge them with questions. Finally, the audience will vote their preference.  

For anyone interested in prostate cancer focal therapy, this specific UAA2025 session is what you cannot afford to miss.