Alexander Kenigsberg, MD, discusses a new option for treating prostate cancer: robotic high-intensity focused ultrasound.
Alexander Kenigsberg, MD, director of urologic oncology at VCU Health Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center, discusses a new option for treating prostate cancer: robotic high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), a noninvasive approach that’s changing the landscape of prostate cancer care.
According to Kenigsberg, prostate cancer remains the most commonly diagnosed cancer among men in the US and the second leading cause of male cancer death. Yet, as Kenigsberg points out, not all prostate cancers are created equal.
“Some men have disease that is really not very clinically aggressive, but other men, as noted by it being the second leading cause of male cancer death, have very aggressive disease. And then somewhere in between, there is this large pool of men who have something that is not quite the disease that we are comfortable watching, but probably not the really aggressive disease that's going to drive their mortality,” he explains.
To address this clinical gap, VCU Massey became the first site in Virginia to offer the Focal One HIFU system, an advanced, robotic-guided technology that uses ultrasound waves to precisely destroy cancerous tissue within the prostate, without surgery, radiation, or external incisions.
“It’s a same-day procedure [that takes] about an hour to an hour and a half,”Kenigsberg says.
This approach offers a compelling alternative to more aggressive treatments. While surgery and radiation are highly effective, they often come with adverse events such as incontinence, erectile dysfunction, and the need for hormone therapy. In contrast, HIFU minimizes those risks while offering comparable cancer control, as demonstrated in a multi-center study of more than 3,000 patients.
In addition, Kenigsberg explains that post procedure recovery is quick, with most patients returning home the same day.
“We can see some of the key structures that have to do with erectile function and incontinence and preserve them,” he says.