Lower risk prostate cancer treatment

When Stanford University alumnus Bill Faulkner, 73, discovered he had cancerous lesions on his prostate, he considered several standard treatment options. But Faulkner and his wife worried about the side effects of surgery, such as incontinence and sexual dysfunction. Radiation therapy, while less invasive, was lengthy and carried its own risks.

In consultation with Geoffrey Sonn, MD, associate professor of urology, and Pejman Ghanouni, MD, PhD, associate professor of radiology, Faulkner chose a newer, less common approach with less risk of side effects: MRI-guided ultrasound ablation, which harnesses ultrasound waves to obliterate cancerous tissue.

At Stanford Medicine’s Minimally Invasive MR Interventional Center (MR for magnetic resonance), doctors developed a plan tailored to the locations of each of the two cancerous masses: magnetic resonance-guided transrectal focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) for one lesion and magnetic resonance-guided transurethral ultrasound ablation (TULSA) for the other.

Sonn and Ghanouni co-authored a recent study showing that MRgFUS is effective for intermediate-risk prostate cancer. They are now studying the effectiveness of TULSA compared with traditional surgery. Stanford Health Care is the only Northern California hospital offering both.

Faulkner had no significant side effects and is cancer-free more than 2 1/2 years later. “The team at MIMRIC was phenomenal,” he said.

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