Hospital 'leading the way' with new cancer treatment

Consultant Chandran Tanabalan, pictured with specialist lead Carolyn Owen, said the machine has "significant advantages" over traditional treatments

A pioneering non-invasive treatment for prostate cancer will be launched after a successful fundraising campaign.

More than £400,000 was collected to pay for a High-Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) machine at Northampton General Hospital (NGH).

Doctors said the treatment is less likely to have unpleasant side effects than surgery or radiotherapy.

Another hospital in the east of England is planning to launch HIFU for prostate cancer later this year - the Queen Elizabeth in King's Lynn, Norfolk.

NGH said about 1,000 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer every year in Northamptonshire alone, and HIFU therapy could be an option for about 200 of them.

The machine sends a beam of ultrasound energy into the prostate from a probe inserted into the rectum.

The sound waves are focused precisely onto the cancerous area, and the tissue is heated to a temperature that destroys the cancer cells.

The associate medical director of University Hospitals of Northamptonshire (UHN), Chandran Tanabalan, said: "Focal therapy offers significant advantages over surgery and radiotherapy treatments as it treats just the part of the prostate affected by cancer.

"This leads to lower risks of long-term side effects like erectile dysfunction and incontinence, faster recovery times, and better quality of life post procedure that can be associated with radical surgery or radiotherapy."

Jonathan McGee from the Northamptonshire Health Charity was diagnosed with prostate cancer during the fundraising campaign

Northamptonshire Health Charity raised more than £400,000 for the project.

Jonathan McGee, its chief executive, said: "During the initial fundraising for the campaign, I too was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

"This gave me a valuable personal perspective on the importance of this appeal, and although I am quite 'young' for a diagnosis, it shows the importance of screening."

"I'm fortunate that for me it's 'watch and wait' so I may never need treatment," he added.

Ultrasound and MRI imaging is used to determine exactly where the cancer is before HIFU treatment starts

The first patients are due to be offered the treatment within the next few weeks, and it is hoped all the equipment will be in place by the summer.

Men from across the East Midlands will eventually use the service at Northampton.

The UHN chief executive, Laura Churchward, said: "We very much want UHN to be front-runners in this exciting field with so many potential benefits for our prostate cancer patients."

Paul Sayer, founder of the national charity Prost8 UK, said he was "thrilled to see the NHS embracing this technology, with Northampton General Hospital leading the way.

"We will be actively referring patients to the HIFU."

The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King's Lynn, Norfolk, is expecting to launch the therapy in the coming year.