Prostate cancer treatment draws fire
January 18, 2008U.S. medical tourists are headed to Latin American health clinics to receive a controversial prostate cancer treatment not approved in the United States.
High-intensity focused ultrasound, or HIFU therapy, uses isolated bursts of near-boiling temperatures to attack cancerous tissues in the prostate through a rectal probe, The New York Times reported Friday.
U.S. HIFU, a company touting the treatment at international clinics, said the treatment provides an alternative to more conventional treatment without the sexual or urinary side-effects of other treatments.
The director of the U.S. HIFU, Dr. George M. Suarez, told the Times the treatment's $25,000 price tag is justified and claimed the treatment is an alternative to surgery or radiation with fewer side effects.
U.S. HIFU is sponsoring FDA-approved clinical studies to win approval for the treatment in the United States. Canadian and EU officials have approved the treatment.
Dr. Peter Scardino with the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center told the Times the treatment does provide an alternative method but added that "for the treatment of the average ordinary prostate cancer, I think it's a second-class form of therapy."
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
-
Focal therapy and prostate cancer
Oct 22, 2009 |
4.5 / 5 (4) |
1
-
How to enhance non-thermal effects of ultrasound
Dec 29, 2008 |
not rated yet |
1
-
High-intensity ultrasound may launch attack on cancer, wherever it lurks
Aug 07, 2007 |
4.8 / 5 (10) |
0
-
Fast photon control brings quantum photonic technologies closer
1 minute ago |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (33) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (5) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Is Everyday Technology Killing Us?
Feb 08, 2012
-
Exercise and weight loss
Feb 08, 2012
-
Why do we have head aches? Our brains can't feel anything.
Feb 07, 2012
-
"The end of diseases" by David Agus, interview from Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Feb 04, 2012
-
Oncolytic adenovirus
Feb 04, 2012
-
Nutrition label stuffs and diets
Feb 02, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - Medical Sciences
More news stories
Tenofovir, leading HIV medication, linked with risk of kidney damage
(Medical Xpress) -- Tenofovir, one of the most effective and commonly prescribed antiretroviral medications for HIV/AIDS, is associated with a significant risk of kidney damage and chronic kidney disease that increases over ...
Medicine & Health / Medications
1 hour ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
New tumor suppressor gene identified
A recent study published in Clinical Cancer Research suggests that the protein hVps37A suppresses tumor growth in ovarian cancer. The work, which was funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, shows, for th ...
43 minutes ago |
4 / 5 (1) |
0
Packard Children's has smallest child yet to get pacemaker
Jaya Maharaj was 15 minutes old when she was sent to surgery at Lucile Packard Childrens Hospital and given a pacemaker that saved her life. The tiny girl born nine weeks early, weighing 3.5 pounds, ...
Medicine & Health / Cardiology
26 minutes ago |
not rated yet |
0
Social psychologist: Lust makes you smarter and evidence that seven deadly sins are good for you
(Medical Xpress) -- Good news for lovers on Valentine’s Day - the seven deadly sins, including Lust, are good for you. University of Melbourne social psychologist Dr Simon Laham uses modern research to make a compelling ...
Medicine & Health / Psychology & Psychiatry
2 hours ago |
4.5 / 5 (2) |
0
Don't ignore kids' snores
(Medical Xpress) -- Your ears arent playing tricks on you that is the sound of snoring you hear from the bedroom of your preschooler. Snoring is common in children, but in some cases it can be a symptom of a ...
1 hour ago |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
Transforming galaxies
(PhysOrg.com) -- Many of the Universe's galaxies are like our own, displaying beautiful spiral arms wrapping around a bright nucleus. Examples in this stunning image, taken with the Wide Field Camera 3 on ...
'Smart' microcapsules in a single step
(PhysOrg.com) -- A new, single-step method of fabricating microcapsules, which have potential commercial applications in industries including medicine, agriculture and diagnostics, has been developed by researchers ...
A continent ablaze in auroral and manmade light
The North American continent is literally set ablaze in a confluence of Auroral and Manmade light captured in spectacular new videos snapped by the astronauts serving aboard the International Space Station ...
Ethanol mandate not the best option
Many people are willing to pay a premium for ethanol, but not enough to justify the government mandate for the corn-based fuel, a Michigan State University economist argues.
Nanostructured electrodes for rechargeable sodium-Ion batteries
Highly efficient 3V cathodes for rechargeable sodium-ion batteries have been developed by users from Argonne National Laboratory's Materials Science, Chemical Sciences & Engineering, and X-ray Sciences Divisions, ...