Researchers in Spain develop treatment capable of destroying prostate cancer

A team of researchers from Navarra in Spain saw 85 per cent of prostate cancer patients recover after undergoing revolutionary new treatment.

Researchers at the Clinica Universidad de Navarra have given prostate cancer patients in Spain a reason to feel optimistic. The results of their recent study showed that 85 per cent of patients treated with irreversible electroporation saw their tumours controlled.

Of these patients, 100 per cent retained their urinary continence capacity and 91.8 per cent retained their sexual potency prior to the intervention.

According to the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM), cancer continues to be one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality in the world. In Spain, it is estimated that new cancer diagnoses will reach 279,260 cases in 2023. Of these, prostate cancer is the most common among men.

Specifically, the latest SEOM data show that 260,000 new cases of prostate cancer were diagnosed in 2020, far more than the other most common tumours in the male population: urinary bladder cancer (150,000) and colon cancer (126,000).

The article from the Clinica Universidad de Navarra was published in the scientific journal ‘The Journal of Urology’. It is the first such article on a prospective series of patients in a Spanish hospital with focal therapy results to be endorsed by an impact journal.

As Dr Bernardino Miñana, the coordinator of the Prostate Cancer Area of the Clinica Universidad de Navarra, and lead author of the study, emphasised, specifically, the article analyses the pathology of men treated between 2014 and 2021. The results make up “the prospective cohort published with the longest follow-up to date with this technology”, he added.

These data confirm the efficacy and safety of irreversible electroporation. This is a non-thermal tissue ablation technique that allows cell destruction by a series of short, high-voltage electrical pulses. Focal prostate therapy is indicated for patients with low-risk or intermediate-risk tumours, with a visible lesion on MRI and who do not want radical treatments.

As Dr Miñana pointed out, its application “requires a rigorous selection of patients who could benefit from this treatment. This is why cancer characterisation by means of MRI and transperineal biopsies using fusion systems is mandatory”.

In addition, the article also concluded that there is a proportion of patients at risk of developing new tumours in untreated areas, which requires prolonged follow-up for early detection.

According to Dr Miñana: “this experience, together with the other treatments we carry out at the Clinica Universidad de Navarra Prostate Centre, consolidates us at the forefront of minimally invasive prostate cancer treatment at a national and European level”.

In fact, the Prostate Centre of the Clinica Universidad de Navarra – integrated into the Cancer Center Clinica Universidad de Navarra – has been the first in Spain to offer the entire diagnostic and therapeutic arsenal for the management of benign and malignant prostate pathology, as reported by larazon.eson Tuesday, February 14.

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