Medicus Alpha Clinic is the first medical establishment in Bulgaria to use HIFU for treatment of prostate cancer. This technology was introduced first in 2010 and since then it has been commonly used by our team of expert urologists. Since February 2017, a HIFU equipment of last generation has been operating at the clinic.
For the past seven years over 100 patients have been treated using this method and with almost 95 % the cure is complete and without any complications. Any instances of recurrence have been observed after the second year from treatment and are entirely comparable to the results of other treatment methods. A decisive factor for the full and sustainable positive result of the treatment is the strict observation of the selection clinical criteria for appropriateness of clinical cases to be treated with this method.
The HIFU technology is advanced and allows the bloodless and painless removal of the prostate tumors. The method, however can not completely substitute the existing surgical techniques since it is not applicable to all groups of patients. Undisputed is its advantage for patients with clinically and histologically proven cases in the beginning stages of the disease, who meet strictly defined clinical criteria concerning the PSA values and the histology score by Gleason. Any deviation from the readings may increase the risk of recurrence, therefore the precise diagnostics and the urologists’ expertise have great significance. Medicus Alpha Clinic is a leader in this aspect, too, thanks to the method of prostate targeted biopsy – HistoScanning.
HIFU method is a high-intensity focused ultrasound therapy that performs ablatio (destruction) of the prostate gland without radiation, and without affecting the surrounding tissue. The high-intensity of the ultrasound is focused in a sector of area equal to a rice grain. The temperature rises up to 105 C⁰, which is destructive for the cell membranes. They literally melt down, without affecting the surrounding zones. In this manner, sector by sector the entire prostate gland is eliminated, the malignant formations are destroyed and replaced by connective tissue free from tumor cells. When the medical indications allow it, thanks to the high precision of this method, only the tumor cells zone can be destroyed selectively (focal therapy) or the prostate gland can be partially removed without affecting the intact tissue. This provides to patients the highest possible level of security. The procedure is done with full anaesthesia. It may take from 1 to 4 hours. It has the following advantages:
- The hospital stay is just one day, and the fitness to work is recovered on the 5th day, while with conventional open surgery this period is at least 3 months.
- Over 95 % of the treated patients have preserved urinary and erectile function, against the statistics of over 50 % of the conventionally operated patients who later on suffer from incontinence and sexual weakness.