Steam-blast treatment for prostate cancer investigated in clinical trial

Prostate cancer is usually treated with surgery and radiation therapy, but these can have drastic side effects. A new clinical trial is exploring the safety and efficacy of killing the cancer cells with a blast of steam.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in men, and the second most common cancer in the world, and while the outlook can be hopeful if caught early, treatment can impact a patient’s quality of life. The prostate is a walnut-sized gland located between the bladder and the rectum, surrounded by nerves and muscles that control sexual and urinary function. As such, side effects of surgery and radiation therapy for prostate cancer often include incontinence, impotence and bowel dysfunction.

A new system from Francis Medical could treat prostate cancer without those side effects. It’s called the Vanquish Water Vapor Ablation System, and as the name suggests it involves "vanquishing" the cancer with hot water vapor delivered directly to the gland.

Under general anesthesia, a catheter is inserted up the patient’s urethra until it reaches the prostate. An ultra-fine needle is then deployed from the catheter into the tumor, which delivers a 10-second burst of steam into the affected cells.

The idea is that the steam moves quickly into the prostate tissue, before condensing back into water. This heats the local area effectively, killing off the cancer cells without harming surrounding healthy cells. Heat has been explored as a cancer treatment for years, but this is one of the most direct sources we’ve seen.

The process doesn’t sound like much fun, but it’s markedly less invasive than current methods. Francis Medical says that the procedure can be done in an outpatient setting, allowing patients to go home the same day and resume their normal functions as soon as the next day. In contrast, surgery requires an overnight stay in hospital and a longer recovery time – as well as all the other potential side effects.

Another advantage is that it only takes one session, as opposed to multiple visits required with radiation therapy. Several blasts of steam can be administered during the same procedure if needed.

Following success in using the Vanquish system to treat other prostate disorders, a clinical trial is now underway to investigate the safety and efficacy of using steam to treat prostate cancer. The trial involves about 400 male patients over 50 years of age with a stage 2 or below prostate cancer that hasn’t spread to other organs.

Participants will be followed for five years to monitor their disease progression. So far, more than 180 patients have received the treatment.

Source: Keck Medicine of USC, Francis Medical