MRI-guided ablation as effective as surgery for prostate cancer treatment
An MRI-guided ablation technique is as or more effective than robotic radical prostatectomy in men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer, according to preliminary trial results.
The TULSA procedure involves transurethral ultrasound ablation via magnetic resonance imaging guidance. It does not require radiation nor incisions and is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for most men with prostate cancer (organ-confined, Grade 2 or 3). The CAPTAIN trial is comparing TULSA to robotic prostatectomy based on safety, efficacy, and its ability to impact factors such as urinary incontinence or erectile dysfunction.
New data on the trial’s results thus far were presented at the 41st Annual European Association of Urology Congress in London, U.K. Results suggest the procedure is superior to robotic radical prostatectomy in terms of safety; six-month post-treatment outcomes of 211 trial participants who underwent one of the two procedures revealed that the TULSA method reduced rates of erectile dysfunction and urinary incontinence by half, with 50% of TULSA-treated individuals avoiding the side effects compared to 24% of prostatectomy patients.
What’s more, the TULSA method also eliminated the risk of blood loss, resulted in fewer individuals requiring overnight hospital stays and significantly reduced patients’ pain within one week of the procedure. TULSA-treated patients reported being able to return to work more quickly as well. Notably, these benefits were achieved without a reduction in treatment efficacy, as the procedure achieved noninferior results to prostatectomy in terms of oncologic outcomes.
One of the trial’s investigators, Laurence Klotz, MD, a respected urologist and professor of surgery at the University of Toronto, suggested that the study’s results signal that the TULSA method could someday be the standard of care for this subset of patients.
“Establishing these outcomes would facilitate moving the TULSA Procedure into the standard of care. We have reached a foundational milestone by proving superior safety,” Klotz noted. “At six months, patients treated with TULSA-PRO were more than twice as likely to preserve both pad-free continence and erections sufficient for intercourse compared to surgery, delivering functional outcomes that track the established body of evidence for the TULSA Procedure.”
Learn more about the trial results here.
In addition to her background in journalism, Hannah also has patient-facing experience in clinical settings, having spent more than 12 years working as a registered rad tech. She began covering the medical imaging industry for Innovate Healthcare in 2021.