MINI-REVIEW

Focal therapy for prostate cancer: Challenges with patient selection, treatment modalities, and follow-up

Gustavo Ruschi Bechara1 Alice Yu2 Julio Pow-Sang2*
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1 Department of Urology, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória, Espirito Santo, Brazil
2 Department of Genitourinary Oncology, Moffitt Cancer Center, Tampa, Florida, United States of America
CP 2024, 6(3), 3770
Submitted: 28 May 2024 | Accepted: 16 July 2024 | Published: 30 August 2024
© 2024 by the Author(s). This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
Abstract

Prostate cancer (PCa) remains the most common malignancy among men. Historically, the standard treatments for localized, clinically significant PCa have been radical prostatectomy or radiation therapy. However, the need to achieve optimal oncological outcomes while maintaining quality of life has led to the development of focal therapy (FT) as a novel treatment modality. At present, FT is performed using different types of energy sources: (i) cryotherapy, (ii) irreversible electroporation, (iii) high-intensity focused ultrasound, (iv) transurethral ultrasound ablation, (v) focal laser therapy, (vi) bipolar radiofrequency ablation, and (vii) photodynamic therapy. The role of FT in PCa is highly debated for several reasons, mainly because the disease is multifocal in most cases, and long-term outcomes from prospective clinical trials are still lacking. Nevertheless, it has been suggested that focal treatment of the index lesion is sufficient, as this lesion is believed to drive metastatic spread. Therefore, FT is considered a potential treatment option for patients with organ-confined, intermediate-risk PCa as an alternative to whole-gland treatments. Although FT generally preserves voiding and sexual functions, its effectiveness in cancer control needs to be validated through high-quality comparative trials. The aim of this article is to discuss the challenges of patient selection and review the various FT modalities and follow-up strategies after treatment.

Keywords
Prostate cancer
Localize
Focal therapy
Partial ablation
Patient selection
Follow-up
Funding
None.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
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