A minimally invasive interventional radiology treatment -- focal cryoablation that freezes prostate tumors -- proves as effective as surgery but without the side effects of sexual and urinary dysfunction. The so-called “male lumpectomy” can be considered a first-line treatment for patients of all risk levels. Instead of removing the entire prostate or using radiation on the entire prostate, interventional radiologists can find out where the cancer is and just destroy the cancer.
Interventional radiologists, using imaging for guidance, insert a probe through the skin that circulates extremely cold gas to freeze and destroy the cancerous tissue. Treating only the tumor instead of the whole prostate gland is a major and profound departure from the current thinking about prostate cancer.
Additionally, the use of a 3-D mapping biopsy provides superior information on the extent and grade of prostate cancer as opposed to the current standard TRUS biopsy.
