Progress in prostate cancer care

Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in the United Kingdom, with over 60,000 diagnoses every year. Despite advances in treatment, a quarter of patients will see their cancer return within 10 years, highlighting one of the biggest challenges in cancer treatment today. For men facing recurrent prostate cancer, treatment options are often invasive, and can lead to lifelong complications such as incontinence and sexual dysfunction; however, new research at Imperial is strengthening hope for men facing this difficult diagnosis.

Traditionally, treatment for recurrent prostate cancer has involved either hormonal therapy or surgical removal of the prostate (salvage prostatectomy). However in recent years, attention has shifted towards a less invasive alternative known as salvage focal therapy. Rather than removing or treating the entire prostate, focal therapy precisely targets the area where the cancer returned following radiotherapy, preserving as much healthy tissue as possible.

A recent study led by Mr Taimur Shah (Clinical Associate Professor in Urology at Imperial) analysed long-term comparative outcomes between these therapeutic approaches. Results showed that, when selected for the appropriate patient cohort, salvage focal therapy is just as effective as traditional therapeutic approaches. Notably, this study found that 90% of men who underwent salvage focal therapy survived for over 10 years post-surgery, with a 9- to 24-fold reduction of treatment-related complications compared to salvage prostatectomy.

This study provides the first long-term comparative evidence supporting the effectiveness of salvage focal therapy. Although the treatment is already available through the NHS, further implementation and continued refinement is needed to fully showcase its potential in the management of recurrent prostate cancer. Together, these findings offer renewed confidence that effective treatment doesn’t always have to come at the cost of quality of life.