Prostate cancer treatment that helped Jeremy Clarkson and Lord David Cameron as effective as radiotherapy
The minimally invasive treatment used by Jeremy Clarkson and Lord David Cameron for prostate cancer offers comparable effectiveness to traditional radiotherapy and prostatectomy surgery, but with significantly fewer side effects, a new study has found.
This innovative approach, known as focal therapy, specifically targets and destroys only cancerous tissue within the prostate; It has proven to be highly effective in achieving positive long-term results for patients.
Research by Imperial College London and the Imperial College Healthcare Trust, published in the European journal Urology, underlined the treatment’s success: just two in nearly 3,500 men died of prostate cancer a decade after receiving focal treatment.
Former Best Gear Presenter Clarkson and former prime minister Lord Cameron opted for treatment after being diagnosed with prostate cancer.
The study author, Dr. Alexander Light said: “The results of our study are truly encouraging.
“Ten years later, only two men in the study had died of prostate cancer, and many men had benefited from the treatment, including men with more aggressive disease who were traditionally told focal therapy was not an option for them.”
According to the NHS, more than 60,000 cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed in the UK each year, making it the most common type of cancer in men.
Although robotic surgery to remove the prostate (radical prostatectomy) and radiotherapy are effective treatments, both can cause long-term side effects such as urinary incontinence and erectile dysfunction.
50-66 percent of cancers localized to the prostate will be suitable for focal treatment; the rate is around 15,000 cases each year in the UK.
Because focal therapy targets only cancerous areas, it reduces the risk of side effects such as urinary incontinence, erectile dysfunction and rectal problems by five times compared to traditional radiotherapy or surgery.
Ten years after receiving focal therapy, two men in the study of 3,477 participants died of prostate cancer, and three in 100 had cancer spread outside the prostate. Both rates are similar to those seen with surgery or radiotherapy.
Last month the UK Government announced that extra funding would be used to expand focal therapy services.
Joint senior author Professor Hashim Ahmed, consultant urologist and head of urology at Imperial College London and Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, said: “This is the largest and longest-running study showing that focal treatment provides excellent long-term cancer control in a wide range of patients.
“There is a compelling case for more centers to offer this treatment and I am pleased to see the government making a robust capital funding commitment to support this.
“Currently, only 1,000 men a year receive this treatment, while up to 15,000 others are either not informed about it or do not have local access.”
