What can members tell me about the success of electroporation and NanoKnife? The National Health Service in Britain is now using it.

[martinvs]

It doesn't appear to have the debilitating side effects of radical prostatectomy surgery or radiation

[Tall_Allen]

Only on a clinical trial, right?

Here's what I have:

Irreversible Electroporation/NanoKnife (IRE): In a study of focal IRE, which is largely a non-thermal form of ablation, Murray et al (1) reported that 4/25 patients (16%) were found to have residual cancer in the ablation zone. In another study (2) that used mpMRI to detect residual cancer up to one year after treatment, 9/30 patients (30%) were found to have residual cancer in the ablation zone. Colletini et al (3) reported in-field treatment failures by 18% of low and intermediate-risk patients detected via mpMRI-targeted biopsy after 6 months. Vallerio et al. (4) reported that 6/34 patients (18%) had residual disease. Guenther et al (5) reported that recurrence rate at 5 years was 5.6% for Gleason 6, 14.6% for Gleason 7 and 39.5% for Gleason 8–10.

(1) auajournals.org/article/S00...

(2) sciencedirect.com/science/a...

(3) pubs.rsna.org/doi/10.1148/r...

(4) ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/a...

(5) ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/labs/pmc/a...

All of those were in favorable risk patients. They compare to 95+% cure rates if treated by SBRT, and comparable toxicity. Very few of the recurrences were in the treated area.

IRE requires full anesthesia with complete paralysis.

[martinvs in reply to Tall_Allen]

Thanks Talls_Allen - I will check out those references.

All I have is an article (sorry undated) reprinted in January in our NZHerald via the UK's Daily Telegraph which suggests a step or three beyond clinical trial ("on the NHS"):

Daily Telegraph UK

By Laura Donnelly

"Prostate cancer could be cured with a "game changing" one-hour operation that uses electric currents to destroy the most difficult to reach tumours.

The pioneering treatment has been used to treat the disease for the first time on the NHS, with surgeons saying the breakthrough could offer hope to thousands of men."

[Tall_Allen in reply to martinvs]

I hope you will rely on clinical trial data reported in peer-reviewed journals instead of the mainstream media. That said, the article appears to be about metastases treated with IRE, not prostate treatment. Which are you interested in?

[martinvs in reply to Tall_Allen]

Yes, I will rely on clinical trial data. Saying that the article says that it is now available via the UK's NHS - not necessarily correct of course. Where do you get the idea that it is more related to metastases? Perhaps I do not have the article in full. I am more interested in treatment as my cancer is localised.

[Tall_Allen in reply to martinvs]

"...to destroy the most difficult to reach tumours" They seem to be talking about tumors in remote sites, as prostate tumors are not difficult to reach. Maybe not - I haven't seen the article.

[davenj]

Dr. Coleman at MSK told me that all of his IRE patients have retrograde ejaculation. He said he did not yet understand why.

[martinvs in reply to davenj]

Thank you. Nerve damage to the bladder?

[Boonster]

In 2016, I had IRE as part of a treatment program that included as well immunotherapy and focal cryoablation. So IRE was not a monotherapy for me. I had been diagnosed Gleason 10 with signet ring cell carcinoma, and I was ready for a combined approach.. I don't think any SOC existed for this diagnosis.

IRE did not cure me; I had BCR 18 months later. But the subsequent biopsies and scans I have had since 2016 show that the GL 8-10 disease appears to have disappeared, leaving one localized 7mm lesion, for which I was recently treated with SBRT and ADT. Good luck to you!

[martinvs]

Many thanks Boonster!

[j-o-h-n]

Greetings martinvs,

Please tell us your bio. Age? Location? When diagnosed? Treatment(s)? Treatment center(s)? Scores Psa/Gleason? Medications? Doctor's name(s)?

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THANK YOU AND KEEP POSTING!!!

Good Luck, Good Health and Good Humor.

j-o-h-n Wednesday 01/26/2022 6:46 PM EST