by Oliver Moras
A new form of cancer treatment which is being performed is high-intensity focused ultrasound also known as HIFU. A beam of high frequency ultrasound waves are released from a probe and targeted towards cancer cells. The energy of the waves heats the cells to 195 degrees Fahrenheit within 2 to 3 seconds, destroying them.
Typically, a small injection is given to deliver a vernal anaesthetic when carrying out HIFU but besides this, no cuts are made and so the procedure results in no scarring. This makes these procedures minimally invasive and thus, recovery time is reduced and when HIFU is used to treat most cancers such as prostate cancer, the patients are able to leave on the same day. Due to the fact that the ultrasound is focused, any waves which hit the neighbouring healthy tissue will contain much less energy and so they are unlikely to be affected.
A large benefit of HIFU over alternative cancer treatments is that, unlike many other treatments, it can be used again in case of resurgence. Patients are also able to get other forms of treatment instead even after receiving HIFU in the past and HIFU can also be used to treat recurrence if other treatment methods such as radiation were used in the past, making it flexible.
However, the negative is that since this treatment is fairly new, most of the information about this treatment is based on little scientific evidence and more scientific theory. Moreover, we do not know how well this treatment will work in the long term (after ten years) as not enough time has passed since clinical trials began. Furthermore, as the method is new, doctors have not had enough training with this technique to be able to consistently produce high cure rates. An issue with this is that as a non-invasive treatment, it is very expensive but due to the precise accuracy needed by the doctor, it is common that they do not get all of the cancer tissue as their skill is currently insufficient to clear all the tissue without harming the patient and so further treatment is required, which is not only even more expensive but also adds another series of risks and possible complications.
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